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A.VDEUSON — America not Discovered by Columbus Anderson — Norse Mythology - Anderson —Viking Tales of the North - Anderson — The Younger Edda Forestier — Echoes from Mist-Land, or, The Nibelungen Lay Revealed HoLcoMB — Tegner's Fpidthjof's Saga Janson — The Spell-Bound Fiddler - Lie — The PilCt and his Wife - Lie — The Barque Future .... Peterson — Norwegian - Danish Grammar AND Reader $1 00 2 50 2 00 2 00 1 50 1 50 1 00 1 50 1 00 1 25 J^r /fr-^h^, I AMEUICA not DISOOVKKED HY Coi.UMIiL'S. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE Discovery of America by the Norsemen IN THE TENTH CENTURY. By RASMUS B. ANDERSON, A.M. PROFESSOR OF THR SCANniV4vi«w . .•.^,. '' HOXORARvTSr^F -.^"Ic^^^CcrES^'^lJ^rHxT ^■'^'^''^^^ ' WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE HISTORICAL, LINGUISTIC. LITERAKY AND SCIEVTIFIC VAinr OK THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGE^ ^'^''^ ALSO A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE • PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA, «Y PAUL BARRON WATSON. THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. 1883. f E I05.K5 Copyright. 1874, By S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. Copyright, 1883, Bt S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY, KNIQHT & LEONARD, PRINTERS, CHICAQO. / ~ P/^dJl PEEFACE. TN preparing this sketch, the author has freely made use of sucli material as he considered valuable for his purpose from the works of Torfjeus, C. C. Rafn, J. T. Smith, N. L. Beamish, G. Gra- vier, B. F. De Costa, A. Davis, Washington Irving, R. M. Ballantyne, P. A. Munch, R. Keyser, and others, and he is under special obligations to Dr. S. H. Carpenter, of the University of Wisconsin, for valuable suggestions. This sketcli does not claim to be withoiit faults. The style may seem dull and heavy, but it is hoped that the reader will be generous in criticising an author who now makes his first appearance before the American public. The object of this sketch has been to present a readable and truthful narrative of the ISTorse discovery of America, to create some interest in the people, the literature, and the early institutions of Norway, and especially in Iceland,— that lonely and weird island,— the Ultoia Thuld 59;i72 I'KEFACE. of the Greek Philosophers; and of the good or ill performance of the task, a generous public must bo the judge University op Wisconsin, June 18, 1874. OONTEI^TS. CHAPTER I. The Norsemen, and otuer Peoples, interested in THE Discovery of America, 35 CHAPTER II. Norse Literature hao been Neglected by the Learned Men op the Great Nations, - - 41 CHAPTER III. Antiquity op America, 45 CHAPTER IV. Phenician, Greek, Irish, and Welsh Claims, CHAPTER V. Who Were the Norsemen? - ... Iceland, Greenland, CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. 47 49 52 W CHAPTP]R VIII. The Ships op the Norsemen, 61 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. The Sagas and Documents ake Genuine, - - - 64 CHAPTER X. Bjarne Heiuulfson, 986, 68 CHAPTER XI. Leif Erikson, 1000, 71 CHAPTER XII. Thorvald Erikson, 1002, - 75 CHAPTER Xni. Thorstein Erikson, 1005, 78 CHAPTER XIV. Thorfinn Karlsepne and Gudrid, 1007, - - - 79 CHAPTER XV. Other Expeditions by the Norsemen, - - - 84 CHAPTER XVI. The Discovery of America by Columbus, - - - 85 CHAPTER XVII. Conclusion, - - - 93 APPENDIX. The Scandinavian Languages, 95 Bibliography of the Pre-Columbian Discoveries of America, 131 PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. OINCE the first edition of tliis little book was ^^ published, the discovery of America has received much attention. The claims of the Norsemen, the Irish, the Welsh, and even of the Chinese, have all been waruily advocated. In presenting this new edition of "America not discovered by Columl)Us," we desire to call the read- er's attention to soine of the literature that has ap- peared since the publication of our volume. We pass over in silence all the newspaper and magazine arti- cles and reviews, confining ourselves to what has been put in book form. 1. Immediately after the publication of our book, in 1874, appeared a very re.i^arkable work, by Aaron Goodrich, entitled, " A History of the Character and Achievements of the so-called Christopher Columbus, with numerous Illustrations and an Appendix " (New York, I). Appletcn & Co.). Goodrich pronounces Columbus a fraud, and denounces him as mean, selfish, perfidious and cruel. He has evidently made a very careful study of the life of Columbus, and we have looked in vain for a satisfactory refutation of his state- 8 PKLKAOE TO THE NEW EDITION. moiits. Ill Mr. Goodrich's book will be found a i)rief but tolerably accurate sketch of the Norse discovery of this continent. 2. In 1875 appeared the following books : {a) " The Island of Fire," by P. C. Ileadley. Its ninth chapter treats of the discovery of America by the Norsemen. {h) " Younn^ Folks' History of the United States," by Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Its fourth chap- ter treats of the Norse discovery. (c) "A Grammar School History of the United States," by John J. Anderson (New York). The first section gives a synopsis of the Norse discovery. {d) "Lectures delivered in Amer ca," by Charles Kingsley. The third lecture is upon the first discov- ery of America. {e) "Fusang, or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests, in the Fifth Century," by Charles G. Leland. This work recognizes, on page 32, the claims of the Norsemen, but presents an older claim by the Chinese, showing that a Buddhist monk or missionary, named Tloei-shin, returned in the year 499 A.D. from a long journey to the East. The country that Hoei-shin visited is claimed to be Old and New Mexico, and was called by him Fusang. The monk had found in this new and strange country I'M PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 9 an abundance of the maguey plant, or great cactus, which lie called fusang, after a chinese plant slightly resembling it, and this name (Fusang) he applied to the country itself Leland's book is well worth reading. (/) In July, 1875, was held, in Nancy, France, the first meeting of the Congres International des Am^ricanistes, a society which has been organized for the sole purpose of thoroughly investigating the pre- Columbian history of the American continent. The Gompte rendu of this session has been published in two large octavo volumes, by Maisonneuve et Cie., Paris. - In the first volume will be found many valua- ble papers on the d.o^overy of America by the Pheni- cians, Chinese, Irish, Norsemen, Welsh; and on the relation of these discoveries to the transatlantic voy- ages by Columbus. The second meeting of this society will be held, September, 1877, in Luxembourg, anil there can be no doubt that it wMl in course of time produce a unique library of papers and discussions on pre-Columbian America. We are glad to notice that the savans who assembled in Nancy in 1875 fully recognized the claims of the Norsemen.* so An tr™" " ''™'^" ^"'""'^ "^^ ^'^■"^'^ "«y«^" -^ John S.C. Abbotts "Christopher Columbus;" i„ all of which th« Norse claims are v:„dzcated. The last is in part a reply to the above-mentioned worlc of Aaron Goodrich. 10 pkefacp: to the new edition. 3. In 1876 appeared : {a) " An American in Iceland," by Samuel Knee- land. Its fourteenth chapter is devoted to a presenta- tion and discussion of the Norse discovery of America. {J)) " America discovered by the Welsh," by Benja- min F. Bowen (Lippincott, publisher). The voyages of the Norsemen, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, are set down, on page 23, as being too well authenti- cated to admit of any doubt, and the book gives an interestinij; and elaborate discussion of the Welsh dis- CO very of America, in the year 1170, by Prince Madoc and his followers, in order, as the author says, "to assign them their rightful place in American history." And, indeed, these various pre-Columbian discoverers are gradually receiving recognicion in American his- tory ! It used to be the custon?. to pass over these early visitors to our continent in utter silence or with a contemptuous fling at them, as though they were mere myths, created only for the purpose of tickling the vanity of the different nationalities. It gives us 2;i"eat pleasure to be abie to state that none of the re-^ent histories of the United States have neglected to call attention to the pre-Columbian dis- coverers. Mr. John Clark Ridpath writes the title- page of his work as follows : " A History of the United States of America, from the aboriginal times PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 11 to the present day ; embracing an account of the Ab- origines : ♦lie Norsemen in the New World ; the dis- coveries by the Spaniards, English, and French, etc. etc. ; " imd part II of the work begins with a detailed account of the Norse discoveries. In William Culleri Bryant's large history of the United States, now being published, we find the fol- lowing very interesting title-page: "A Popular History ol' the United States, from the first discovery of the Western Hemisphere by the Northmen to the end of the First Century of the Union of the States;" and a large portion of the first volume of that great work is devoted to an elaborate account of the discovery of the American continent by the Norsemen, irish, Welsh, etc. This is right, and therefore we approve it and are glad of it. "Truth crushed to earth will rise again," and in the growing recognition of the claims of the Norsemen to the honor of havino- dis(;overed America in the tenth centurv is a beautiful illustration of the truth contained in this sentence. While the various writers here alluded to freely admit the fact that the Norsemen, as well as others, discovered and explored parts of America long before Columbus, they are unwilling to believe that there is any historical connection I)etween the discovery of the Noi'semen and that of Columbus; or, in other words, 12 PKEFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. that Columbus profited in any way by the Norsemen's knowledge of America. This is all the more singular, since none of them even try to deny the statement made by Fernando Columbo,* his son, that he (Christopher Columbus) not only spent some time in Iceland, in 1477, but sailed three hundred miles beyond, which must have brought him nearly within sight of Greenland. "We are informed that he was an earnest student and the best geographer and map-maker of his day. He was a diligent reader of Aristotle, Seneca and Strabo. Why not also of Adam of Bremen, who in his vol- ume, published in the year 1076, gave an accurate and well authenticated account of Vinland (New England) ? Is it not fair to sav that Columbus must have read Adam of Bremen's book, and that he in 1477 went to explore and reconnoitre the old northern route by way of Iceland, Greenland, Markland and Helluland to Vinland ? We must insist that it is, to say the least, highly probable that he had in some way obtained knowledge of the discoveries of the Norsemen in the western ocean, and that lie thought their Yinland. to The statement is found in Chapter iv of the biography, which the son of Christopher Columbus. Fernando, wrote of his father, and which was published in Venice in 1571. Its title is, ''Vita dell' admiraglio Ohrlsophoro Columbo." PREFACE iw THE NEW EDITION. 13 be the eastern shores of Asia. But no matter what indue-'d him to go to Iceland.* We know positively that he went there and even three hundred miles beyond it. The last Norse voyage to America of which we htve any account was in the year 1347, and is it possible, we ask, that Columbus could visit Ice- land only 130 years later and learn nothing of the famous Vinland the Good ? We firmly believe in evolution so far as the dis- covery of America is concerned. We believe that the voyages of the Phenicians and of the Greek Pytheas were the germ that budded in the explorations of Irish Welshmen and Norsemen, and culminated in the dis- covery of America by Columbus. Columbus added the last link of the golden chain that was to unite the two continents. We believe that Columbus was a scholar, who industriously studied all books and manu- scripts that contained any information about voyages and discoveries ; that his searching mind sought out the writings of Adam of Bremen, that well-known historian who in the most unmistakable and emphatic language speaks of the Norse discovery of Vinland; that the *Thc famous geographer Malte-Brun suggests, in his Histoire dc la Gdographic, ii, pp. 395, 499, that Columbus, when in Italy, had heard of the Norse discoveries beyond Iceland, for Rome was then the world's center, and all information of importmce was sent there; and we know that Pope Paschal II appointed Erik Upsi Bishop of Vinland in the year 1112, and that Erik Upsi went personally to Vinland in 1121. lu. I 14 PKEFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. information thus gathered induced him to make his voyage to Iceland. And thus we are able to explain the firm conviction that Columbus invariably ex- pressed in reference to land in the west ; thus we can account for the absolute certainty and singular firm- ness with which he talked of land across the ocean ; and thus we can account for his accurate knowledge of the breadth of the ocean. Many have objected that Columbus never enter- tained an idea of discovering a neio worlds but that he was in search of a western route to India. What of it? Why could not Columbus have supposed that the Vinland, which the Norsemen had found, and which Adam of Bremen wrote about, was the very India to which he wanted to find a western route? Grant that all he wanted to know was, whether land could be found by sailing westward, — if he ever had such an opinion he must certainly have gotten it confirmed in Iceland. The Norsemen had not discovered the Pa- cific Ocean, and Columbus might well have believed that the Norsemen had discovered India. If Columbus had learned of Vinland when he was in Iceland, why did he not sail farther north instead of going so far to the south that he reached the West India Islands instead of New England? This question has frequently been urged, and we reply, that the I PKEFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 16 Icelanders must have told hiin, as they state in their Sagas, that far to the south of Vinland was Irland-it-Mikla, or Great Ireland ; that this Great Ire- land extended certainly as far south as the present Florida, and hence his shortest and most pleasant route would be to sail about due-west from Spain. Granting that America had not yet been foimd, any South European navigator, who had examined the Old Norse Sagas, and w^anted to re-discover the lands there- in described, would feel sure of reaching Irland-it-Mikla by taking about the same course as did Columbus. In presenting these arguments, we repeat a state- ment that we have made elsewhere, that we are not detracting in any way from the great and well-de- served fame of Columbus. We are rather vindicat- ing him as a man of thorough scholarship, great research, good judgment, in short a man of extraor- dinary ability, by showing that his discovery of America was the fruit of patient and persevering study of all the geographical information within his reach, and not a matter of chance, baseless specula- tion, or as some would like to have it, inspiration. We believe he examined carefully the traditions found in Plato of an island Atlantis, that had been swallowed up by the waves; we believe he read what Dioduros says about Phenician merchants who 16 PKEFACE TO THE NEW EUITION. were driven by storms out of their course and found a fertile land to the west of Africa; we believe he had read Adam of Bremen, and that he could not rest satisfied, before he had undertaken that perilous voyage to Iceland and heard from the very lips of the Norsemen themselves, the sagas relating to Vin- land and Gi-eat Ireland. We neglected to mention in our first edition the two remarkable visitors to America, — Are Mar- son and Bjorn, the Champion of Breidavik; and we gave Gudleif Gudlaugson but a passing notice, for the reason that their voyages are in no really historical connection with the voyages of Leif and Thorvald Erikson and Thorfinn Karlsefne. The Landnamabok and Eyrbyggja Sagas give elaborate accounts of these adventurers, the substance of which is as follows : The powerful chieftain. Are Marson, of Reykjanes, in Iceland, was, in the year 983, driven to Great Ireland (the country around the Chesapeake Bay) by storms, and was there baptized. The first author of this account was his contemporary, Rafn, surnamed the Limerick-trader, he having long resided in Lim- erick, in Ireland. The illustrious Icelandic sage. Are Frode, the first compiler of Landnama, who was him- self a descendant in the fourth degree from Are Mar- son, states on this subject that his uncle, Thorkel PREFACE TO TIIK NEW EDITION. 17 Gellerson, (whose testimony he on another occasion declares to be worthy of all credit,) had been informed by Icelanders, who had their information from Thortinn Sigurdson, jarl of Orkney,, that Are had been recog- nized in Great Ireland, and could not get away from there, but was there held in great respect. This state- ment therefore sliows that in those times (A. D. 983) there was an occasional intercourse between the west- ern part of Europe (the Orkneys and Ireland) and the Great Ireland or Whiteman's Land of America. The Saga (Landndmabok, Landtaking Book, Domesday Book) expressly states that Great Ireland lies to the west, in the sea, near vo Yinland the Good, VI days' sailing west from Ireland ; and Professor Eafn was of the opinion that the figures YI have arisen through some mistake or carelessness of the transcriber of the original manuscript, wlii6h is now lost, and were er- roneously written for XX, XI, or perhaps XY, which would better correspond with the distance. The mis- take might easily have been caused by a blot or defect in the manuscript. ^ It must have been in this same Groat Ireland that Bjorn Asbrandson, surnamed the Champion of Breid- avik, spent the latter part of his life. He had been adopted into the celebrated band of Jomsborg war- riors, that Dr. G. W. Dasent describes in his "Vikings !^' 18 PliEFACE TO THE MEW EDITION. I'!' !>' of the Baltic,'' under Paliiatoke, and took part with them in the battle of Fvrisval, in Sweden. His illicit amatory connection with Thurid of Froda (liiver Frod) iii Iceland, a sister of the powerful Snorre Gode, drew upon him the enmity r.nd persecution of the latter, in consequence of which he found himself obliged to quit the country for ever, and in the year 999 he set sail from Iceland with a northeast wind. Gudleif Gudlaugson, brother of Thorlinn, the an- cestor of the celebrated historian, Snorre Sturleson, had, as related in Chapter I of this volume, made u trading voyage to Dublin, in Ireland ; but when he left that place .-^.gain, with the intention of sailing round Ireland and returning to Iceland, he met with long-continning northeasterly winds, which drove him far to the southwest in the ocean, and ?ate in the summer he and his company came at last to an ex- tensive country, but they knew not what coimtry it was. On their landing, a crowed of the natives, several hundreds in number, came against them, and laid hands on them, and bound them. They did not know anybody in the crowd, but it seemed to them that their language resembled Irish. The natives now took counsel whether they should kill the strangers or make slaves of them. While they were deliberating, a large company approached, displaying a banner, close to PREFACE Tt) THE NEW EDITION. 19 which rode a man of distinguished appearance, who was far advanced in year,?, and had gray hair. The matter under deliberation was referred to his decision. He was the above-named Bjorn Asbrandson. He caused Gudleif to be brought before him, and, address- ing him in the Norse hinguage, he asked him wlience lie came. On his replying that he was an Icelander, J3jorn made many inquiries about his acquaintance in Iceland, particularly about his beloved Thurid of Frod River, and her son Kjartan, supposed to be his own son, and who at that time was the proprietor of the estate of Frod River. In the meantime, the natives becoming impatient and demanding a decision, Bjorn selected twelve of his company as counselors, and took them aside with him, and some time afterward he went toward Gudleif and his companions and told them that the natives had left the matter to his de- cision. He thereupon gave them their liberty, and advised them, although the summer was already far advanced, to depart immediately, because the natives were not to be depended on, and were difficult to deal with, and, moreover, conceived that an infringement on their laws had been committed to their disadvan- tage. He gave them a gold ring for Thurid and a sword for Kjartan, and told them to charge his friends and relations not to come over to him, as he had now 20 I'KEFACE TO TIJK NEW EDITION. become old, and might daily expect that old age would get the better of him ; that the country was large, having but few harbors, and that strangers must every- where expect a hostile reception. Gudleif and his company accordingly set sail again, and found their way back to Dublin, where they spent the winter ; but the next summer they repaired to Iceland, and de- livered the presents, and everybody was convinced that it was really Bjorn Asbrandson, the Champion of Breidavik, that they had met with in that far-off country. An American poet, G(eorge) E. O(tis), published ',-> 1874, in Boston, a very pleasant poem based on the saga narrative of Bjorn Asbrandson. The name of the poem is " Thurid." The above narrative, taken from "Antiquitates Americanse," is merely a brief abstract of the sagas which, in the case of Bjorn, as the reader may easily imagine, is brimful of dramatic and poetic interest. The Landndmabok and the Eyrbyggja Saga are of vital importance to every one who would make a study of the discovery of America by the Irish, but as we expect at some future day to be able to give to the public a complete translation of all the old Norse sagas treating of voyages to the wQstern con- tinent, we nnist pass on to another subject. Anent the Dighton Eock, we have had some corre- PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITIO>:. 21 spondence with Elisha Slade, Esq., of Somerset, Bristol county, Massachusetts. Before giving his letters we will say, in general, that until sufficient proof of some otlier origin of tlie Newport Tower and the Dighton Rock inscriptions are given, we si' ill persist in claiming them as relics of the Norsemen.* Now please read the following letters: SoMEiisET, Bkistol County, Massachusetth, December 17, 1875. Dear Sir, — I take pleasure in forwarding to your address a stereoscopic view of the celebrated Dighton Rock, situated in Taunton River, at low water mark, three miles north of Somerset, on the eastern bank of the river. As you well know, the rock has been the subject of much learned discussion at various times since the landing of tlie Pilgrims. Geologically, Dighton Rock is a silicious sand- stone of the upper Silurian period, and, I think, belongs to the Helderberg group, stratified as you see in the picture, the stratifications at right angles to the face and parallel to the surface ; was probably deposited in still water; is a boulder and not in situ. I have carefully measured the rock, and the fol- lowing is the result of my work : The face of the rock, on which are the inscriptions, * We are fully aware that the Copenhagen runologists do not regard the Dighton Itock Inscription as a work of the Norsemen. But in the first place the writing is not claimed to be runic, but lioman. Prof. Rafn himself did not try to show more than two or three runic letters in it. And in the second place we are not aware that either Stephens or Worsaae have ever made any careful examination of the inscription. When they have made a thorough Btudyof it and reported, we are willing to accept their decision on the subject. 22 rUKFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. J'; has an angle of 47° to the horizon, and tlie surface (not seen in the picture) as it Hlojjes toward the shore is in the moan 25° to the liorizou. The mean hei«i^lit of the rock on its face above tlie ground is 1,293 meters. Its mean length on its surface is 1,768 meters. Its mean width is 3,384 meters. Its contents above ground is 3,871 cubic meters. Its weight is 9,071,023 kilogrammes. In viewing the rock, you are looking in a south- easterly direction, or, perha})s, more nearly SS.E. by the compass, but the magnetic needle here has a variation of 11° 03' west of north. The rock is almost covered with water at high tide, and can only be seen to advantage at low tide. The inscriptions on the rock are from one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch dee]). At the time it was photographed I made nearly all of the chalk marks myself, and no chalking was made where the cutting in the rook was not jplah^jy visible to the eye^ and many markings partly obscure were not touched, thus giving the rock the benefit of all possihle doubt. Captain A. M. Plarrison, in charge of the United States Coast Survey, engaged in work on Taunton River, was present when the photograph was taken, and he is engaged upon a history of the Norsemen's discovery of America, in connection with Dighton Rock, by request of the United States government. His report, when completed, will be a valuable work. I am, my dear sir, very respectfully. Your obedient servant, Elisha Slade. PREFACE IX) THE NEW EDITION. 38 It has 80 frequently been claimed that the inscrip- tions on Dighton Rock are nothing but " Indian scrawls," hence we wrote to Mr. Slade, asking him whether they could, in his opinion, have leen made with stone implements. Here is his answer: Somerset, Bhistol County, Massachusetts, March 13, 1876. Dear Sir, — You ask my opinion as to the instru- ments used in cutting the inscriptions on Digiiton Rock. I think they were iron implements, and that they were in the hands of a skilled mechanic — a Norseman worthy of the name. T do not know that my opinion on this question is of any conse- ({uence, still I have seen work undoubtedly performed l)y an aboriginal American with flint and stone tools, but the characters were not nicely edged, as these are. I cannot believe they were made by the lazy Indian of Schoolcraft. I have a decided interest in the Norsemen's visit to New England, for Thorfinn must have been well acquainted with Somerset, my native town. He must have seen Taunton River as I see it, with Mount Hope and Narragansett bay, and seen the same sun rise over the same hills and set behind the same ridge 865 years ago. It is not impossible that Snorre was born in Somerset. Ever truly yours, Elisha Si.ade. 'i»^ , 24 PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. In reference to this curious rock we will now only refer the reader to Chapter XIY of this book. From Joseph Story Fp^', Esq., of Wood's Holl, Massachuset^.s, we have received the following very interesting paper on "The Track of the Norsemen," which we recommend to the careful perusal of our readers. Before presenting it, however, we will re- mark that the name Hope is found in Thortinn Karl- sefne's Saga, w^here we read • " Karlsefne sailed with his people into the mouth of the river (Taunton River), and they called the place Hop (Mount Hope)."' Hope is from the Icelandic hopa^ to recede, and signities a bay or the mouth of a river. The description in the saga corresponds exactly with the present situation of Mount Hope Bay. Here is Mr. Fay's paper. (We publish it by permission of the author.) It is now well established that in the tenth cent- ury the Norsemen visited tliis country, and coasting down from Greenland, passed along Cape Cod, through Vineyard Sound to Narragansett Bay, where it is be- lieved they settled. In the neighborhood of Assonet and Dighton, inscriptions upon the rocks have been found, and traditions exist that there were others, which have been destroyed. The name of Mount Hope is supposed to have been given to the Indians by them, and it is a little curious that those antiquaries PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 25 who have tried to identify tlie names in Narragansett Bay with the Norsemen did not look elsewhere on tlieir route. The Eev. Isaac Taylor, the author of a work published by Macmillan & Co., of London, entitled "Words and Places," dilates upon the tenacity with which the names of places adhere to them, "throwing light upon history when other records are in doubt." lie showi- the progress and extent of the Celtic, Nor- wegian and Saxon migration over Europe, by the names and terminals which still exist over that conti- nent and even on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and says, "the knowledge of the history and migra- tions of such tribes must be recovered from the study of the names of the' places they once inhabited, but which now know them no more, from the names of the hills which they fortiiied, of the rivers by which they dwelt, of the distant mountains upon which they gazed." He says, " In the Shetlands, every local name without exception is Norwegian. The names of the farms end in seter or ster, and the hills are called hoy and holl ; " and yet he also says, " the name of Greenland is the only one left to remind us of th^. Scandinavian settlements which were made in America in the tenth century." Would the author have made this exception to his axiom as to the dura- bility of names, had he remembered that the Norse- men called the southern coast of Massachusetts Vin- L AND, and then had seen that we still have "Martin's" or "Martha's Vineyakd ?" Had he sighted Cape Cod 2 26 PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. and entered Vineyard Sound as the Norsemen did, in rounding Mononioy Point, the southeast extremity of the cape, he would have seen on his right a high sandy hill, on or near which is the light-house, over- looking a land-locked anchorage on the inside called Powder Hole ; a score or more of miles farther along, across the sound, on his left, he would have seen the hills now called Oak Blufi's and the Highlands, and under their lee a deep bay and roadstead long known as Holmes' Hole, unfortunately changed to Vineyard Haven ; crossing over to the mainland again, a little farther west, he would have come to the bold but prettily rounded hills forming the southwestern ex- tremity of the cape, and behind them the sheltered and picturesque harbor of Wood's Hole. Proceeding thence toward Narragansett Bay, along the south coast of Naushon, prominent hills on the west end of that island slope down to a roadstead for small craft, and a ])assage through to Buzzard's Bay, called Robinson's Hole; the next isla^'l is Basque; and between its high hills and tho> o of Xashawena is a passage called Quick's Hole. Now these several localities are unlike each other except that all have hills in their vicinity, serving as distin- guishing landmarks. And why is not the word hole as applied to them a corruption of the Norwegian word holl, meaning hill ? The descriptive term hole is not applicable to any of them, but the word holl is to the adjacent hills, while there is little else in com- mon between them. The localities now called Quick's PKEFACE TO THE JS'EVV EDITION. 27 and Robinson's Hole are passages between Elizabeth Islands ; Wood's Hole is a passage and a harbor ; Holmes' Hole, now known as Vineyard Haven, is a deep bay or anchorage; and Powder Hole was for- merly a capacious roadstead, now nearly rilled with sand. It may seem to militate with the theory advanced, that south of Powder Hole or Monomoy Point is a locality called on the chart Butler's Hole, which lies in the course from Handkerchief Shoal to Pollock Rip, where there is now not only no hill but no land. But it is to be considered that almost within the memory of man there was land in that vicinity, which has been washed away by the same strong and eccen- tric current that has nearly rilled np Powder Hole harbor and made it a sand-flat, and which still casts np on the shore large roots and remains of trees. AVith this in mind it is not wild to suppose that Butler's Hole marks a spot where once was an island with a prominent hill, which the sea kings called a boll, and which has succumbed to the powerful abra- sion of the tides which have moved Pollock Rip many yards to the eastward, and which every year make and unmake shoals in the vicinity of Nantucket and Cape Cod. It would seer.i a matter of course that the Norse- men, after their long and perhaps rough voyages, when once arrived in the sheltered waters ai;;l harbors of Vineyard Sound should have become familiar with them, and should have lingered there to recruit and 28 PEEFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. relit, before proceeding westward ; or on their return, to have waited there to gather up resources before venturing out on the open ocean. Indeed, it is re- corded in their sagas that they brought off boat loads of grapes from those pleasant shores. What more probable than that they cultivated friendly relations with the natives, and in coming to an understanding with them on subjects in common, should have told them the Norwegian terms for the hills and headlands of their coast, and that the Indians, in the paucity of their own language, should have adopted the appella- tive holl, which they were told signified hill, so impor- tant as a landmark to these wandering sea kings! Why may not the Norsemen have called them so, until the natives adopted the same title, and handed it down to the English explorers under Bartholomew Gosnold, who gave their own patronymics to those several holls, or holes, as now called ? The statement of " the oldest inhabitant " of Wood's Hole, on being asked where the word hole came from, is, that he " always understood that it came from the Indians." There being no harbor on the shores of Martha's Vineyard island west of Holmes' Hole, the voyagers would naturally follow the north shore of the sound and become familiar with the Elizabeth Islands, and be more likely to give names to the localities on that side than on the other. Between Wood's Hole and Holmes' Hole the sound is narrowest, and they would be apt to frequent either harbor as the winds and tide mitrht make it safe or convenient for them. mmr PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 29 It seems to confirm the views here advanced that in no otlier part of this continent or of the world, where the English liave settled, is to be commonly found the local name of hole, and yet here in a dis- tance of sixty miles, the thoroughfare of these bold navigators, there are no less than five such still extant. How can it be explained except because it is " the track of the Norsemen"? It is not natural or proba- ble, with their imperfect means of navigation, that they should have passed from Greenland to Narragan- sett Bay, leaving distinct traces in eacli, and yet to have ignored the whole intervening space, and not to have lingered awhile on the shores where they found grapes by the boat load, and which must have been as fair and pleasant in those days as they are now. It is to be hoped that at least our people will not be in haste to Avipe out the local names of Vineyard Sound, when it is so likely that they are the oldest on the continent, and give to Massachusetts a priority of discovery and settlement over her sister States. Only let us correct the spelling, and give proper significance to them by calling the places now named Hole by the appropriate title of IIoll. Before closing this preface we wish to add a few facts about the plans of the distinguished violinist Ole Bull in reference to a monument in honor of the Norse discoverers of America. . At the close of a complimentary reception given to the distinguished artist in the Music Hall, Boston, 30 I'KEFACK TO THE ^'EW EDITION. M.issfichusetts, on tlie Stli of December, 1876, the Rev. Edward Everett Hale rose in liis place on the lioor and said* he supposed it was known to every person present that the distinguished artist had spent ahnost the wiiole of his active life in knotting those ties which connected his country with ours. It was hoped that in some future time tliere would be erected a physical inemorial to the early discoverers of whom he had spoken. It was the wisli of those about him [Mr. Hale], at whose request lie spoke, that Boston should not be behind in any expression of gratitude to him [Ole Bull] for his work, as well as in ex])ressing interest in our Norse ancestors. He was sure he expressed the sentiment, not only of the audience, but of all New England, when he spoke of the ' interest with which he regarded his countrymen, whom they regarded as almost theirs. He remembered, although it was nearly forty years ago, when much such an audience as he saw about him cheered and applauded Edward Everett, when the early discoveries had just been made, and when in one of the last of his public poems he expressed the wish that the great discoveries of Thor- vald might be commemorated by Tiiorvald's great descendant, the Northern artist Thorwaldsen. The *From report in Bostou daily ••Advortiser." PKEFACE TO THE KEW EDITION. 31 last words of tliat poem as tliey died upon the ear were : Thoi-vald shall live for aye in Thorwaldsen. He [tlie speaker] thonglit it was a misfortune for New England that the great Northern artist died before he could accomplish this wish. But New Englanders had nevei- forgotten it, and had never forgotten their Norse ancestors. It was an enter- prise which ought to engage Massachusetts njen — the preservation of a physical memorial of Thorvald, Leif and Thorfinn ; and he suggested that the com- mittee which had arranged the meeiiug should be- come a committee of New England, in conjunction with Mr. Appieton, to take this matter in special charge. Mr. Hale put a motion to this effect, and it was carried, and the committee constituted. The connnittee of the Norsemen Memorial includes the highest civic officers of Boston and Massachusetts, and so many men renowned throughout the world in science, in letters, and in art, that we cannot refrain from ornamenting our i)ages with their names. They are, Thomas G. Appieton, Alexander II. Rice, San'i- uel C. Cobb, Wni. Gaston, Otis Norcross, Frederic W. Lincoln, Marshall P. Wilder, TI. W. Paine, Henry A. Whitney, Franklin Haven, Geo. C. Kichardson, I ^ f: 32 PREFACE TO THE KEW EDITION. Alplious Hardy, Jos. B, Glover, John W. Caiullor, E. H. Sampson, «Tanies R. Osgood, Oliver Ditson, Jas. II. Danforth, Curtis Guild, W. "VV. Clapp, Jei'ouie Jones, George O. Carpenter, Chas. W. Wilder, Dexter Smith, Wm. Emerson Baker, James W. Bartlett, Jos. W. Robbins, Ole Bull, John G. Whittier, E. N. Hors- ford, O. W. Holmes, J. R. Lowell, James T. Fields, Chas. W. Eliot, G. W. Blagden, Edward E. Hale, R. C. Waterston, William B. Rogers, John D. Run- kle, Ezra Farnswortli, Charles M. Clapp, Joseph Bur- nett, John P. Spaulding, Henry R. Reed, W. A. Simmons, Wm. TI. Baldwin, Percival L. Everett, A. B. Underwood, Tlionias Sherwin, Benjamin Kimball, Moses H. Sargent, W. B. Sears, J. Watson Taylor, Francis L. Hills, secretary. This committee is, First, To take measures to erect a monument in honor of the Norsemen who first discovered the Con- tinent of America, about a.d. 1000. Second, For the protection of the Dighton Rock, now in Taunton River. The committee issued, January 12, 1877, a cir- cular, of which the following, relating to the Dighton Rock, is an extract : The origin of the inscriptions cut on this rock have been, for several centuries, the study of histo- PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 33 rians. Professor Ratn, and others, of the Royal Souiet}'' of Northern Anti(|iiaries, of Copenhagen, Denmark, were so decided in their belief that the Dighton Rock was inscribed by the Norsemen, that _01e Bull requested Neils Arnzen to purchase it for that society, of which the King of Deiniiark is the president. This committee regard the Dighton Rock, whatever its origin, as a valuable historic relic of American antiquity, and have taken measures to obtain the titl6 to it, in order to protect and remove it to Boston. They invite the deductions of all historic researchers as to the authenticity of these inscriptions.* Thus it will be seen that the Boston committee will provide for a monument in honor of the Norse discoverers and for the preservation of Dighton Rock, and we are informed that a handsome sum of money has already been raised for these purposes. At all events, it is now certain that Ole Bull's long cher- ished plans will be realized ; and the people of Boston are doing themselves and their great city great credit in reviving and perpetuating the memory of those *An Impression of the Dighton Rock inscriptions, taken in 1790, is preserved in Harvard University. Drawings made in 1680 can be found in the '■'■Antiquitates AmericancE." This work records the inscriptions as Norse, and describes 't as conforming to Icelandic Sagas account of " Thorfinn's Expedition to Vinland" (Massachusetts). [Copies of the photograph of Dighton Rock, taken in 1876 by order of the special agent of the United States government, may bo obtained at the office of the secretary of the committee, No. 13 West street, Boston.] 34 PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. who first of all Christians planted their feet on the soil of Massachusetts, and built the first cabins (Leif's Booths) in New England. In sending out this second edition of our book we may be pardoned for again pleading the cause of the Norsemen and hoping that the time may soon come when the names of Leif Erikson, Bjarne Herjulfson, Thorvald Erikson (who, by the way, has recently been immortalized in Longfellow's "Skele- ton in Armor"), Thorfinn Karlsefne, Gudrid, Erik Upsi, Are Marson, Bjorn Asbrandson (the champion of Breidavik) and Gudleif Gudlaugson shall have become household words in every house and hamlet in these United States. Let every child learn the stories about the Norse discoverers of Vinland the Good. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., April 3, 1877. CHAPTER I. THE NORSEMEN, AND OTHER PEOPLES, INTERESTED IN THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. n^PIE object of the following pages is to present the reader with a brief account of the discovery of early voyages to and settlements in the Western Continent by the Norsemen, and to prove that Co- lumbus must have had knowledge of this discovery by the Norsemen before he started to find America ; and the author will not be surprised, if, in these pages, he should happen to throw out some thoughts which will conflict with the reader's previously, formed convictions about matters and things gen- erally, and about historical facts especially. The interest manifested by the reader of history is always greater the nearer the history which he reads is connected with his own country or with his own ancestors. The American student, on the one hand, loves to dwell upon the pages of American history. He 86 AMERICA NOT DISCOVKKED HY (OLLMBUS. admires tlic resolution, tlie fortitude and persever- ance of the ]*ilgrini Fathers as tliey passed through their varied scenes of hardship and adversity wlien they made tlieir first settlement upon our New England shores; and his whole soul is filled with transporting emotions of delight or sympathy as he reads the thrilling incidents of the suft'erings and the victories of his countrymen who fought for his as well as for their own freedom during the Revolu- tionary war. The Norse student, on the other hand, takes special pleasure in perusing the old Sagas and Ed- das, and following the Vikings on their daring but victorious expeditions througli European waters ; and he draws inspiration from those beautiful and poet- ical ancient myths and stories about Odin, Thor, Baldur, Loke, the Giant Ymer, Ragnarok, Yg- drasil, and that innumerable host of godlike heroes that illuminate the pages of his people's ancient history, and glitter like brilliant diamonds in the dust and darkness' of bygone ages. The subject to which your attention is invited, the Discovert/ of America^ is, if properly presented, of equal interest to Americans and Norsemen. For those who are born and brought up on the fertile »oil of Columbia, under the shady branches of the AMKRICA NOT DIrtOOVEKKD BY (Xtf.UMBUS. 37 noble tree of American liberty, where the banner of progress and education is unfurled to the breeze, must naturally feel a deep interest in whatever facts may be presented in relation to the first dis- covery and early settlement of this their native land; while those who first saw the sunlight beaming among the rugged, snow-capped mountains of old Norway, and can still feel any of the heroic blood of their dauntless forefathers course its way through their veins, must, as a matter of course, feel an equally deep interest in learning that their own ancestors, the intrepid Norsemeh, were the first pale- faced men who planted their feet on this gem of the ocean, and an interest, too, I dare say, in having the claims of their native country to this honor vindicated. The subject is not without special interest to' the Germans^ as it will appear in the course of this sketch that a Gorman,* who accompanied the Norse- men on their first expedition to this Western World, is intimately connected with the first name of this country ; and there is no doubt that a German,t through his writings about the Norsemen, was the means of bringing to Columbus valuable information about America. The Welsh also have an interest in this subject; * Tyrker. t Adam of Bremen. 38 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. for it is generally believed, and not without reason, that their ancestors, under the leadership of Madoc, made a settlement in this country about the year 1170 ; thus, although they were 170 years later than the Norsemen in making the discovery, they were still 322 years ahead of Columbus, and Norse- men, therefore, claim in this question, Welshmen's sympathies against Columbus. We might enlist the interest of Irishmen, too, in the presentation of this subject; for, in the year 1029, (according to an account in the Eyrbyggja Saga, Chapter 64,) a Norse navigator, by name GuDLEiF GuDLAUGsoN, Undertook a voyage to Dub- lin, and on leaving Ireland again lie intended to sail to Iceland ; but he met with northeast winds and was driven far to the west and southwest in the sea, where no land was to be seen. It was already late in the summer, and Gudleif, with his party, made many prayers that they might escape from the sea. And it came to pass, says the Saga, that they saw land, but they knew not what land it was. Then they resolved to sail to the land, for they were weary with contending longer with the violence of the sea. They found there a good liar- bor, and when they had been a short time on shore, there came some people to them. They knew none AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 39 of the people, but it ''''rather appeared to tliein that they spoke Irish." This portion of America, supposed to be situated south of the Chesapeake Bay, including North and South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, is in the Saga of Thc.fenn Karlsefne, chapter 13, called ^'' Irlandrit-Mikla" that is. Great Ireland. It is claimed that the name. Great Ireland, arose from the fact that the country had been colonized, long before GudlaugsorCs visit, by the Irish, and that, they coming from their own green island to a vast continent possessing many of the fertile qualities of their own native soil, the appellation was natural and appropriate. There is nothing improbable in this conclusion ; for the Irish, who visited and inhabited Iceland toward the close of the eighth century, to accomplish which they had to traverse a stormy ocean to the extent of eight hundred miles — who, as early as 725, were found upon the Faroe Isles — and whose voyages between Ireland and Iceland, in the tenth century, were of ordinary occurrence — a people so familiar with the sea were certainly capable of making a voyage across the Atlantic ocean. I cannot here enter upon any further discussion of the claims of the Irish, but you observe that this subject of discovering Amiirica cannot be treated 40 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. exhaustively without bringing back to the mind fond recollections of the Emerald Isle, which was once the School of Western Europe, and her brave sons .,.^ „, „ " Inclyta gens hominum, milite, pace, nae, as Bishop Donatus somewhere has it. CHAPTEE II. NORSE LITERATURE HAS BEEN NEGLECTED BY THE LEARNED MEN OF THE GREAT NATIONS. TpNLIGHTENED men all over the world are watching, with astonishment and admiration, the New World, from which great revolutions have proceeded, and in which great problems in human government, human progress and enterprise, are yet to be worked out and demonstrated. People are everjw'iere eagerly observing every event that takes place in America, making it the subject of the most careful scrutiny, and the results, wonderful as they are, everywhere awaken the most intense interest. If you travel in England, in Ger- many, in Norway, or in any of the North-European countries, it is interesting to observe how familiar the common people are with matters and things per- taining to America. They not only know America better than they know tiieir border countries, but there also are found not a few who keep themselves better posted on the aftairs of America than on those of their own country. 3* 42 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. Until recently, it has generally been supposed that America was wholly unknown to European na- tions previous to the time of Columbus; but investi- gations by learned men have made it certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Europeans did have knowledge of this country long before the time of Columbus, and it has even been claimed, on quite plausible gro' ids, that some of the nations living here at the time of Columbus' discovery of this con- tinent were descendants of Europeans. As yet but few scholars have turned their atten- tion to the North of Europe in relation to this subject, and hence the light which this extreme portion of the globe could give has hitherto been, in a great measure, neglected by the learned men of the great nations ; and yet the antiquities of the North furnish a series of incontestable evidence that the coast of North America was discovered in the latter part of the tenth century, immediately after the discovery of Greenland by the Norsemen ; fur- thermore, tliat this same coast was visited repeatedly by the Norsemen in the eleventh century ; further- more, that it was visited by them in the twelfth century ; nay, also, that it was found again by them in the thirteenth century, and revisited in the four- teenth century. But even this is not all. These AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 43 Northern antiquities also show that Christianity had been introduced in America, not only among the Norsemen, who formed a settlement here, but also among the aborigines, or native population, that the Norsemen found here. The learned men of the North are not to blame that this matter has not previously received due attention, for Torf^us published an account thereof as early as the year 1705, and besides him Suhm and ScHCENiNG and Lagerbrlng and Wormskjold and Schrceder, to say nothing of many others, have all presented the main facts in their historical works. But other nations paid no attention to all this. Not until 1837, when the celebrated Pro- fessor Rafn, through the laudable enterprise of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquities, published his learned, interesting and important work,* could scholars outside of Scandinavia be induced to examine the claims of the Norsemen. Professor Rafn suc- ceeded, and he has perhaps done more than any other one man to call the attention of other nations to the importance of studying the Old Norse lite- rature. Thus it is that scholars of other nations recently have begun to direct their attention to Northern Antiquities, Northern Languages and His- ♦ Antiqnitates Americano;, Hafnite, 18:i7, 44 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. tory. Germany and England, and I would like to add America, are now beginning to realize how much valuable material is to be found in these sources for elucidating the historj'^ and institutions of other contemporary nations ; and especially do the early Sagas of the North throw much important light on the character of English and German institutions during the middle ages. The English and Germans are translating the Sagas as fast as they can. Pro- fessors KoNRAD Maurer and Tii. Moebius are doing excellent work at their respective Universities in Germany ; Oxford and Cambridge in England have each an Icelandic Professor, and several American Universities give instruction in the Northern lan- guages. It is indeed an encouraging fact that these great nations are gradually becoming conscious of the importance of studying the Northern languages and literature, and we may safely hope that the time is not far distant when the Norsemen will be recog- nized in their right social, political and literary character, and at the same time as navigators assume their true position in the pre-Columbian discovery of America. CHAPTER III. ANTIQUITY OF AMERICA. T3EF0RE the plains of Europe rose above the primeval seas, the continent of America, accord- ing to Louis Agassiz, emerged from the watery waste that encircled the whole globe and became the scene of animal life. Hence the so-called New World is in reality the Old, and Agassiz gives abundant proof of its hoary age. But who is able even to conjecture at what period it became the abode of man? Down to the close of the tenth century its written history is vague and uncertain. We can find traces of a rude civilization that suggest a very high antiquity. We can show mounds, monuments, and inscriptions, that point to periods, the contemplation of which would make Chronos himself grow giddy ; yet among all these great and often impressive memorials there is no monument, mound, or inscription, that solves satisfactorily the mystery of their origin. There are but few traditions even to aid us in onr researches, IT 46 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. and we cph only infer that age after age nations and tribes have continued to rise into greatness and then decline and fall, and that barbarism and a rude culture have held alternate sway.* * Compare De Costa, page 11. CHAPTER IV. PHENICIAN, GREEK, IRISH AND WELSH CLAIMS. "TN early times the Atlantic Ocean, like all other things without known bounds, was viewed by man with mixed feelings of fear and awe. It was usually called the Sea of Darkness. The Phenician, and especially Tyeian voyages to the Western Continent, in early times, have been warmly advocated ; and it is more than probable that the original inhabitants of the American continent crossed the Atlantic instead of piercing the icy regions of the north and coming by the way of Behring's Strait. From the Canaries, which were discovered and colonized by the Phenicians, it is a short voyage to America, and the bold sailors of the Mediterranean, after touching at these islands, could easily and safely be wafted to the western shore. That the Greek philosopher, Pytheas, whose dis- coveries about the different length of the days in various climates appeared so astonishing to the other 'I m fi 48 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY C0LUMKU8. philosophers of his age, traversed the Atlantic Ocean about 340 years before Christ, can scarcely be doubted. He certainly discovered Thule * (Iceland), and deter- mined its latitude, and we may at least say that by this discovery he opened the way to America for the Norsemen. Claims have been made, as I have already shown, both by the Irish and by the Welsh, that they crossed the Atlantic and found America before Columbus, but it is not my purpose to comment upon these claims in this short sketch. Much learned discussion has been devoted to the subject, but the early history of the American continent is still, to a great extent, veiled in mystery, and not until near the close of the tenth century of the present era can we point, with absolute certainty, to a genuine transatlantic voyage. * See Strabo'8 Geography, Book II, § 6. CHAPTER V. WHO WERE THE NORSEMEN? rpiIE first voyage to America, of wliicli we liavo any perfectly reliable account, was performed by the Norsemen. But who were the Norsemen? Permit me to answer tliis question briefly. The Norsemen were the descendants of a brancli of the Teutonic race that, in early times, emigrated from Asia and traveled westward and northward, finally settling down in what is now the west cen- tral part of the kingdom of Norway. Their lan- guage was the Old Norse, which is still pi-e&erved and spoken in Iceland, and upon it are founded the modern Norse, Danish and Swedish languages. The ancient Norsemen were a bold and inde- pendent people. They were a free people. Their rulers were elected by the people in convention assembled, and all public matters of importance were decided in the iissemblies, or open parliaments of the people. Abroad they became the most daring adven- 60 AMLUICA NOT DIHCOVEHUl) BY COLUMBUS. tiirers. They made theiiihulves known in every {)art of tlie civilized world by tiieir daring as sol- diers and navigators. They si)read themselves along the shores of Europe, making conquests and plant- ing colonies. In their coiujuering expeditions they subdued a large portion of England, wrested Normandy, the fairest province of France, from the J'l'ench king, conquered a considerable portion of Belgium, and made extensive inroads into Spain. Under Robert (ruiscard thev maloring the country for two years. At the end of this period he returned to Iceland, giving the newly-discovered country the name of Greenland, in order, as he said, to attract settlers, who would be favorably impressed with so pleasing a name. The result was that many Icelanders aiid Norse- men emigrated to Greenland, and a flourishing colony was established, with Gardar for its capital city, which in the year 1261, became subject to the crown of Norway. The Greenland colony main- tained its connection with the mother countries for 00 AMERICA NOT DISCOVEKEI) BY COLUMBUS. a period of no less than 400 years; yet it finally disappeared, and was almost forgotten. Torfteus gives a list of seventeen bishops who ruled in Greenland. I CHAPTER VTII. THE SHIPS OF THE NORSEMEN. "OEFORE following the Norsemen farther on -"-^ their westward course, it may not be out of place to say a few words about their ships. Having crossed the briny deep four times myself, I have seen something of what is required in order to ven- ture with safety on so long waiery journeys. I have also seen one of the old Norse Viking ships, which is preserved at the University of Norway, and it seemed to me an excellent one both in respect to form and size. Now, I do not mean to say that the old Norsemen possessed such ocean crafts as now plow the deep between New York and Liverpool; but what I mean to say is this, that the Norsemen were then, as they are now, very excellent navigators. They had good sea-going vessels, some of which wei-e of large size. We have an account, in Olaf Trygve- son's Saga, of one that was in many respects remark- able. That part of the keel which rested on the ground was 140 feet long. None but the choicest 02 AMEIIU.'A NOT DltiCOVEUEl) liY COMMBL'8. iiiatci'ial was used in its coiiBtruction. It contained tliirtj-four ?'owing-benciies, and its stem and stern were overhud with gold.-' Tiieir vessels would com- pare favorably with those of other nations, which have been used in later times in expeditions around the woj'ld, and were in every way adapted for an ocean voyage. They certainly were as well iitted to cross the Athmtic as were the ships of Coluinl)U8. From the Sagas we also learn that the Norsemen fully understood the importance of cultivating the study of navigation ; they knew how to calculate the course of the sun and moon, and how to measure time by the stars. Without a high degree of nautical knowl- edge they could never have accomplished their voy- ages to England, France, Spain, Sicily, Greece, and those still more difficult voyages to Iceland and Greenland. I have now given a brief historical sketch of the voyages and enterprises of the Norsemen. I have done this to show that they were capable of the ♦This ship of Olaf Trygvesou was called the Long Serpei;t, and was built by the t-hip-carpeuter Thorberg, who is celebrated in the annals of the North for his ship-building. The Earl Hakon had a dragon containing forty rowing-benches. King Canute had one containing sixty, and King Olaf, the saint, posse.-jaching tlie continent in the west; and we are thus prepared for the vital question, Did the Norsemen actually discover and explore the coast of the country now known as America? There is certainly no improbability in the idea. Open an atlas at the map of the Atlantic Ocean, or at the maps of the two hemispheres. Observe the distance between Norv^ay and Iceland, and the distances between Iceland and Greenland and Green- land and Newfoundland. You perceive it is more than twice the distance between Norway and Ice- land that it is between Iceland and Greenland, and not far from twice the distance that it is between Greenland and Labrador, and thence on to New- AMEBICA NOT DI8{X)VEKED BY COLUMBUS. 65 foundland. Now, after conceding the fact that Norse colonies existed in Greenland for at least three hundred years, which every student of Norse history knows to be a fact, we must prepare our- selves for the proposition that America was dis- covered by the Norsemen. It would be alto- gether unreasonable to suppose that a seafaring people like the Norsemen, who traversed the broad western ocean to reach Iceland and Green- land, could live for three centuries within a short voyage of this vast continent and never become aware of its existence. But fortunately on this point we are not left to conjecture. We have a complete written record of the discovery. Intelligent men must first succeed . in blotting out innumerable pages of well authen- ticated history before they imdertake to deny or dispute the facts of this discovery. While literary darkness overspread the whole of the European continent for many centuries following the tenth, letters were highly cultivated in Iceland ; and this is the very time and country in which the Sagas containing a record of the discovery of America originated. That they were written long before Columbus is as easy to demonstrate as the fact that Ilerodotos wrote his history before the era of I 66 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. Christ. The authenticity and authority of the Ice- landic Sagas has been fully aclinowledged by Alex- ander VON Humboldt in his Cosmos,* by Malte- BRUNjf and many other distinguished scholars ; and therefore a further discussion is at this time un- necessary on this point. The manuscripts, in which we have the Sagas relating to America, are found in the celebrated Codex Flato^ensis, a skin-book that was ilnished in the year 1387. This work, written with great care and executed in the highest style of art, is now preserved in its integrity in the archives of Copen- ♦ Cosmos, Vol. ii., pp. 269-272, where Alexander Vou Humboldt, discussing tlie pre-Columbian discovery of America by the Norsemen, says: "We are here on historical ground. By the critical and highly praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafn and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries in Copenhagen, the Sagas and documents in regard to the expeditions of the Norsemen to Helluland (Newfoundland), to Markland (the mouth of the St. Lawrence river and Nova Scotia), and to Viuland (Massachusetts), have been published and satisfactorily commented upon. * * * The discovery of the northern part of America by the Norsemen cannot he disputed. The length of the voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of the sun's rising and setting, are accurately given. While the Chalifat of Bagdad was still flourishing under the Abbasides, and while the rule of the Samanides, so favorable to poetry, still flour- ished in Persia, America was discovered, about the year 1000, by Leif, son of Erik the Red, at about 41 '/a" N. L." t Vid. Nouvelles annales des voyages, de la geographic, de I'histoire et de I'archuologie, redigees par M. V.-A. Malte-Bkun, secretaire de la commission centrale do la socii'to de g(^ographie de Paris, member de plusieurs societes savautes. Aout, 1856, p. 253. AMERICA NOT TISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 67 hagen, and a carefully printed copy* of it is to be found in Mimer's library at the University of Wis- consin. We gather from this work that the IsTorse- men, after discovering and settling Greenland, and then keeping a bold southwestern course, discovered America more than 500 years before Columbus; and I shall in the following chapters present some of the main circumstances of this discovery. * : liATEYARBOK, ChrisUauia (Norway), 1860-1868. CHAPTER X. BJARNE HERJULFSON, 986. TN the year 986, the same year tliat he returned "^ from Greenland, the above-named Ekik the Ked moved from Iceland to Greenland, and among his numerous friends, who accompanied him, was an Icelander by name Herjulf. Herjulf had a son by name Bjakne, who was a man of enterprise and fond of going abroad, and who possessed a merchant-ship, with which he gath- ered wealth and reputation. He used to be by turns a year abroad and a year at home with his father. He chanced to be awaj^ in Norway when his father moved over to Greenland, and on return- ing to Iceland he was so much disappointed on hearing of his father's departure with Erik, that he would not unload his ship, but resolved to follow his old custom and take up his abode with his father. " Who will go with me to Greenland ? " said he to his men. "We will all go with you," replied the men. ^'But we have none of us ever AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. 69 » been on the Greenland Sea before," said Bjarne. "We mind not that," said the men, — so away they sailed for three days and lost sight of Iceland. Then the wind failed. After that a north wind and fog set in, and they knew not where they were sailing to. This lasted many days, until the sun at length appeared again, so that they could deter- mine the quarters of the sky, and lo ! in the horizon they saw, like a blue cloud, the outlines of an un- known land. They approached it. They saw that it was without mountains, was covered with wood, and that there were small hills inland. Bjarne saw that this did not answer to the description of Greenland ; he knew he was too far south ; so he left the land on the larboard side and sailed north- ward two days, when they got sight of land again. The men asked Bjarne if this was Greenland; but he said it was not, "For in Greenland," he said, "there are great snowy mountains; but this land is flat and covered with trees." They did not go ashore, but turning the b w from the land, they kept the sea with a fine breeze from the southwest for three days, when a third land was seen. Still Bjarne would not go ashore, for it was not like what had been reported of Greenland. So they sailed on, driven by a violent southwest wind, and 70 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. after four days they readied a land wliich suited tlie description of Greenland. Bjarne was not deceived, for it was Greenland, and he happened to land close to the place where his father had settled. It cannot be determined with certainty what parts of the American coast Bjarne saw ; but from the circumstances of the voyage, the course of the winds, the direction of the currents, and the pre- sumed distfvuce between each sight of land, there is reason to believe that the first land that Bjarne saw in the year 986 was the present Nantucket, one degree south of Boston ; the second Nova Scotia, and the third Newfoundland Thus Bjarne IIer- JULFSON was the first European whose eyes beheld any part of the present New England. The first European who saw the American continent, and whose name is recorded, was Are Marson (see p. 18). He went to Great Ireland (the Chesapeake country), which had undoubtedly been discovered by the Irish even long before Are visited there in the year 983. CHAPTER XI. LEIF ERIKSON, 1000. TT^HEN Bjarne visited Norway, a few years later, and told of his adventure, he was censured in strong terms by Jarl (Earl) Erik and others, because he had manifested so little interest that he had not even gone ashore and explored these lands, and because he could give no more definite account of them. Still, what he did say was sufficient to arouse in the mind of Leif Erik- son, son of Erik the Red, a determination to solve the problem and iind out what kind of lands these M-ere that were talked so much about. He bought Bjarne's ship from him, set sail with a good crew of thirty-five men, and found the lands just as Bjarne had described them, far away to the south- west of Greenland. They landed in Helluland (Newfoundland) and in Markland (Nova Scotia), explored these countries somewhat, gave them names, and proceeded from the latter into the open sea with a northeast wind, and were two days at sea 72 MERlCA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. before they saw land again. They sailed into a sound. It was very shallow at ebb-tide, so that their ship stood dry and there was a long way from their ship to the water. But so much did they desire to land that they did not give themselves time to wait until the water rose again under their ship, but ran at once on shore, at a place where a river flows out of a lake.* But as soon as the water rose up under the ship, they rowed out in their boats, floated the ship up the river and thence into the lake, where they cast anchor, brought their skin cots out of the ship, and raised their tents. After this they took counsel, and resolved to remain through the winter, and built a large house. Ther? was no want of salmon, either in the river or in the lake, and larger salmon than they had before seen. The nature of the country was, as they thought, so good that cattle would not require house-feeding in winter. Day and night were more equal than in Greenland or Iceland, for on the shortest dav the sun was above the horizon from half-past seven in the forenoon till half-past four in the afernoon ; which circumstance gives for the latitude of the place 41° 24' 10" ; hence Leif ^s booths arc thought to have * This lake is Mount Hope Bay. The tourist, in traveling that way by rail, will at first take Mount Hope Bay for a lake. B. F. DeCosta, p. 38. AMERICA NOT DISCOVEliED BY COLUMBUS. 73 been situated at or near Fall River, Massachusetts. Leif Erikson called the country Vinland, and the cause of this was the following interesting incident: There was a German in Leif Erikson's party by name Tyrkek. He was a prisoner of war, but had become Leif 's special favorite. He was missing one day after they came back from an exploring expedi- tion. Leif Erikson became very anxious about Tyrker, and tearing that he might be killed by wild beasts or by natives,* he went out with a few men to search for him. Toward evening he was found coming home, but in a very excited state of mind. The cause of his excitement was some fruit which he had found and whicl' he held up in his hands, shouting : '■' Weintrauben ! Weintrauben ! ! Weintrau- ben ! ! ! " The sight and taste of this fruit, to which he had bee ecustomed in his own nati/e land, had excited hmi to such an extent that he seemed drunk, and for some time he would do nothing but laugh, devour grapes and talk German, which language our Norse discoverers did not understand. At last he spoke Norse, and explained that he, to *Oiir Norso colonists in Vinliind had frequent intercourse with the natives, whom tliey called "Skra'llin^er.'" Tin's name is derived from the adjective " skrall,"' which means lean; hence skrallinsj is an alhision to their lean and shriveled aspect. Comi)aro also the verb "skraela," which means to peel, as " sknel et ^Eble," to peel an apple. 74 AMERICA NOT DISCOVEliJil) BY COLUMBUS. his great joy and surprise, had found vines and grapes in great abundance. From this circumstance the land got the name of Vinland, and history got the interesting fact that a German was along with the daring argonauts of the Christian era. Here is then a short account of the iirst expedi- tion to New England. It took place in the year 1000, and Leif Erikson was the iirst pale-faced man of whom it is recorded that he undertook a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, with the definitely avowed purpose of seeking for land. His was no discovery by accident. The nature of Leif Erikson's expedi- tion, the end sought, etc., was as clearly defined in his own mind, and as well understood by his coun- trymen, as in the case of the ex2)edition undertaken by Columbus in 1492. But Leif did not set heaven and earth in commotion in reference to the matter of going across the Atlantic Ocean. He simply bought Bjarne's ship, engaged thirty-five fearless seamen like himself, said good-bye to his aged father, and set sail ! CHAPTER XII. WP5! THORVALI) ERIKSON, 1002. TN the spring, wlien the winds were favorable, Leif Erilvson returned to Greenhind. The ex- pedition to Vinland was mncli talked of, and TnoR- WALD, Leif's brother, thought that the land had been much too little explored. Then said Leif to Thorvald: -'Yon may go with my ship, brother, to Vinland, if you like." And so another expedition was fitted out, in the year 1002, by Thorwald Erik- son, who went to Vinland and remained there three years; but it cost him his life, for in a battle with the Skrji'llings an arrow from one of the natives of America pierced his side, causing death. He was buried in Vinland, and two crosses were erected on his grave,— one at his head and one at his feet. Hallowed ground, this, beneath whose sod rests the dust of the first Christian and the first European who died in America! Ilis death and burial also gains interest in another respect, for in the year 1831 there was found in the vicinity of Fall Eiver, Massachusetts, a sheleton in armor, and many of the circumstances connected with it are so wondei-ful 76 AMEBIOA NOT DI8COVEKED BY COLUMBUS. tliat it might indeed seem almost as though it were the skeleton of this very Thorvald Erikson ! This skeleton in armor attracted much attention at the time, was the subject of much learned discussion, and our celebrated poet Longfellow wrote, in thd year 1841, a poem about it, beginning: "Speak! speak! thou fearful guest!" After which lie makes the skeleton tell about his adventures as a viking, about the pine forests of Norway, about his voyage across the stormy deep, and about the discovery of America, concerning which he says: "Three weeks we westward bore, And when the stomi was o'er, CloudUke we saw the shore Stretching to leeward; There, for my lady's bower. Built I the lofty tower,* ' Which to this very hour Stands looking seaward." The following are tlie last two verses of the poem : "Still grew my bosom, then, Still as a stagnant fen. Hateful to me were men. The sunlight hateful ! ♦The tower here referred to is the famous Newport tower in Rhode Island, whicli undoubtedly was built by the Norsemen; at least we persist in claiming it, until it can be clearly shown that it has been built since the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620. AMERICA NOT DISCOVERKn BY COLUMBUS. 77 In the vast forest here, Clad in my warlike gear, Fell I upon my spear,— Oh, death was grateful! "Thus, seamed with many scars, Bursting these prison bars, Up to its native stars My soul ascended. There, from the flowing bowl, Deep drinks the warrior's soul: Skaal! to the Northland, skaal! Thus the tale ended." The great Swedish chemist Berzelius analyzed* a part of the breastplate which was found on the skeleton, and found that in composition it corre- sponded with metals used in the I^orth during the tenth century; and comparing the Fall River breast- plate with old Northern armors, it was also found to correspond with these in style. When the Norsemen had buried their chief, Thor- wald, they returned to Leifsbudir (Leif's booths), loaded their ships with the products of the land, and returned to Greenland in the year 1005. to .l^^'^'T^ ""■"'" '"''"'^ ^" °'"'""''^' ""^ -^"""S with certainty back Brenmate Bronze Article copper r^-S": ^~j- Zinc 2o„„ 67.13 Tin ::: "f^ 20.39 Lead — J-;^ 9.24 ^••o" 0.03:::::;;:::;: ojj CHAPTER XIII. THORSTEIN ERIKSON, 1005. ^T^IIEN the Sagas tell us that Thorstein, the youngest son of Erik the Red, was seized with a strong desire to pass over to Vinland to fetch the body of his brother Thorvald. He was married to Gudrid, a woman remarkable for her beauty, her dignity, lier prudence, and her good discourse. Tliorstein fitted out a vessel, manned it with twenty-five men selected for their strength and stature, besides himself and Gudrid. When all was ready they put out to sea, and were soon out of sight of land. Through the whole summer they were tossed about on the deep, and were driven they knew not whither. Finally they made land, which they found to be Lysefjord, on the western coast of Greenland. Here Thorstein and several of his men died, and Gudrid returned to Eriksljord. CHAPTER XIV, THORFINN KARLSEFNE AND GUDRID, 1007. • n^IlK most distinguished explorer of Viiiland was Thokfinn Karlsefne. He was a wealthy and influential man. He was descended from the most famous families in the North. Several of his ancestors had been elected kings. In the tall of 1006 he came from Norway to Erikstjord with two ships. Karlsefne made rich presents to Leif Erikson, and Leif offered the Norse navigator the hospitalities of Brattahlid during winter. After the Yule festival Thorfinn began to treat with Leif as to the marriage of Gudrid, Leif being the person to whom the right of betrothment belonged. Leif gave a favorable ear to his advances, and in the course of the winter their nuptials were celebrated with duo ceremony. The conversation frequently turned at Brattahlid upon Yinland the Good, many saying that an expedition thither held out fair prospects of gain. The result was that Thorfinn, accompanied by his wife, who urged him to the undertaking, sailed to Vinland in the sj)ring of 80 AMERICA NOT DI8COVEKEI) BY COLUMBUS. 1007, and reinaiiied there three years. The Sagas lay coiisidei'able stress upon the fact that Gudrid persuaded him to undertake tliir expedition. She also appears to have taken a prominent part in the wliole enterprise. Imagine yourself way otf in Greenland. Imagine Gudrid ana Thoriinn Karl- sefne taking a walk together on the sea-beach, and Gudrid talking to her husband in this wise: "1 wonder thiU you, Tliorlinn, with good ships and many stout men, and plenty of means, should choose to remain in this l)arren spot instead of searching out the famous Vinland and making a settlement there. Just think v.hat a splendid coun- try it must be, and what a desirable change for all of us. Thick and leafy woods like those of old Norway, instead of th^se rugged cliffs and snow-clad hills. Fields of waving grass and rye instead of moss-covered rocks and sandy soii. Trees large enough to build housee and ships instead of willow bushes, that are fit for nothing except to save our cattle from starvation when the hay-crop runs out ; besides longer sunshine in winter, and more genial warmth all the year round, instead of howling winds and ice and snow. Truly I think this country was wofully misnamed when they called it Greenland." You can easily imagine that Thoriinn was cop- AMERICA NOT DISCOVEKED BY COLUMBUS. 81 vineed by such persuasive arguments, and lie resolved to follow his wife's advice. The expedition which now set out for Vinlund was on a much larger scale than any of the expedi- tions that had preceded it. Tliat Lcif and Thorvald and Thorstein had not intended to make their per- manent abode in YinUmd was plain, from the fact that they brought neither women nor Hocks nor herds with thom. Karlscfne, on the other hand, went forth fuily equipped f\^y colonization. The party consiste*! of c/'d linndred and Jift}/-lack Plague left no surplus popula- tion for expeditions to America or elsewhere. * Sue \)a<^ii 18. CHAPTER XVJ. THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY COLUMBUS. J WILL now devote a few pages to poincing out some of the threads tliat connect this discovery of America by the Norsemen witli tlie more recent and better-known discovery by Cohmihus. 1. From a letter wiiicli Columbus himself wrote, and which we find (pioted in Washington L-ving's Columbus,^ we know positively that while the de- sign of attempting the discovery in the west was maturin. in the mind of Columbus, he made a voyage to the north of Europe, and visited Iceland. Tliis was in February, 1477, and in his conversation with the Bishop and other learned men of Iceland, he must have been informed of the extraordinary fact, that their countrymen had discovered a great country beyond the western ocean, which seemed to extend southward to a great distance. This was a circumstance not likely to rest quietly in the active and speculative mind of the great geographer * Vol. 1. p. 59. 86 AMEliICA NOT U16COVEKED BY COLUMB J8. and navigator. Tlie reader will observe that, when Columbus was in Iceland, in the year 1477, fifteen years before he discovered America, only one hun- dred and thirty years had elapsed / since the last N^orse expedition to Vinland. There were undoubt- edly people still living whose grandfathers had crossed the Atlantic, and it would be altogether unreasonable to suppose that he, who was constantly studying and talking about geography and navigation, possibly could visit Iceland and not hear anything of the land in the west. 2, Gudrid, the wife of Thorlinn and mother of Snorre, made a pilgrimage to Rome after the death of her husband. It is related that she waL well received, and she certainly must have talked there of her ever memorable trans-oceanic voyage to Yin- land, and her three years' residence there. Rome paid mueli attention to geographical discoveries, and took pains to collect all new charts and reports that were brought there. Every new discovery M^as an aggrandizement of the papal dominion, a new field foi the preaching of the Gospel. The Romans might have heard of Vinland before, but she brought personal evidence. 3. Thiif Vinland was known at the Vatican is clearly proved by the fact that Pope Paschal II, t m AMLiiICA NOT DISCO VEKEL) BY C0LUMBU8. 87 in tlie year 1112, appointed Erik (Jpsi, Bishop of Iceland, Greenland and Yinland, and Erik Upsi went personally to Vinland in the year 1121. 4. Recent developments in relation to Columbus tend to prove that he had opportunity to see a map of Vinland, procured froin the Vatican for the Pinzons, and it would indeed astonish us more to learn that he, with his nautical knowledge, did not hear of America than that he did. We must also bear in mind that Columbus lived in an age of discovery; England, France, Portugal and Spain were vying with each other in discovering new f-^ lands and extending their territories. 5. But in addition to the Sagas, the Dighton Writing Rock, the Nkwport Tower (which the Iirdians told the early New England settlers wis built by the giants, and the iXorse discoverers cer- tainly looked like giants to the natives, since the former called the latter Sknpllings); and in addition to the SKELETON IN ARMOR, we havc a remarkable record of the early discovery of America by the Norsemen in the writings of Adam of Bremen, a canon and historian of high authority, who died in the year 1076. Tie visited the Danish king Svend Estridson, a nephew of Canute the Great, and on his return home he wrote a book " On iho Propa- 88 AlVIERICA NOT DISOOVEEED BY COLUMBUS. (jation of the Chr'idlan JReliymi in the North of Europe^'' and at the end of this book he added a geographical treatise " On the Position of Denmark and other 7'egions heyond Denmai'hP Having given an account of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Greenland, he says that, " hesides these there is still another region, which has been visited Iry many^ lying in that Ocean {the Atlantic), which is called ViNLAND, hecause vines groio there spontaneously, producing very good, wine', corn likewise springs up there without heing sow7i /" and as Adam of Bremen closes his account of Yinland he adds these remarkable words : " This ice hnow not hy fabu- lous conjecture, but from, positive statements of the Danes P Now, Adam of Bremen's work was first pub- lished in tlie year 1073, and was read by intelligent men throughoiit Europe, and Columbus being an educated man, and so deeply interested in geograph- ical studies, especially when they treated of the Atlantic Ocean, could he. be ignorant of so important a work? I have here given five reasons \\hy Columbus must have kimwn the existence of the American continent before he started on his voyage of discov- ery. 1. Gudrid's visit to Rome. 2. The appoint- AMERICA NOT DIS(X)Vi:iiI.;i) Uy COLUMIUTS. 89 ment, hy Pope Pascal II, of Erik ITpsi as Bishop of Viiilaiid. 8. Adain of Premen's account of Vinland, in his book piibh'shed in 1073. 4. The map pro- cured from the Vatican for the Pinzons, wliich fact I have not, how'ever, yet been able to establish with absolute certainty; and, 5, which caps the climax. Columbus' own visit to Iceland in the year 1477. The^ are stubborn facts, and, if you read the biography of Columbus, you will find that he always maintained a firm conviction that there was land in the west. He says himself that he based this con- viction on the authority of the /earned writn-s. He stated, before he left Spain, that he expected to find land soon after sailing about seven hundred leagues; hence he knew the breadth of the ocean, and must.' therefore, have had a pretty definite knowledge of the situation of Yinland and Great Ireland. A day or two before coming in sight of the new world, he capitulated with his mutinous crew, promising, if he did not discover land within ^hree days, to abandon the voyage. In fact, the wli. history of his dis- covery proves that he either must have possessed previous knowledge of America, or, as some have had the audacity to maintain, been inspired. We do not believe in that sort of inspiration. It makes Columbus a greater man, in our estimation, that he \/-' m I 90 AMERICA NOT DISCOV KRKD MY COLUMHUS. \ J tbrincd his opinion bj a chain of h)ii;i('al deductions based upon thorougli study and research. It is to the credit of (-ohniibus, we say, that he investigated the nature of things; that he dih'gently searched the learned writers; that he paid close attention to all reports of navigators, and gathered up all those scat- tered gleams of knowledge that fell ineffectually upon ordinary minds. Washington Irving says: ''When Columbus had formed his theory it became lixed in his mind with singular tirmness. lie never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as if his eyes had already beheld the promised land." We say, if he held this firm conviction on only presumptive evidence, then, with all due respect for liis distinguished biographer, he is not entitled to the enviable reputation for scholarship and good judgment that has been accredited to him by Wash- ington Irving. We claim to be vindicating the great name of Columbus, by showing that he must have based his ceHainty upon equally certain facts, which he possessed the ability and patience to study out, and the keenness of intellect to put together, and this gives historwal importance to the discovery of America by the Norxernen. The fault that we find with Columbus is, that he was not honest and frank enough to tell where and how he had obtained m AMKKICA NOT DlSCOVEKKf) KV COLirMHUS. 01 liis previous information about tlie lands wliicli lie pretontlod to discover; that he sometimes talked of liiniself as chosen by Heaven to make this discovery, and that he made the fruits of his labors subservient to the dominion of inquisition. If our tiieorv, then, does not make Columbus out as true and. good a man as the readei- may have con- sidered him, we still iusist that it proves him a man of extraordinary ability. It shows that he discovered America by study and research, and not by accident or inspiration. Care should always be taken to vin- dicate great names from accident or inspiration. It defeats one of the most salutary purposes of history iind biography, which is to furnish examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise can accomplish.* That the Spanish and more recent colonies in America could become more permanent than the Norse colonies, is chiefly to be attributed to the superiority that flre-arms gave the Europeans over the natives. The ]>forsemen had no lire-arms, and their higher culture could not defend them against the swarms of savages that attacked them. In the next place, the Black Plague reduced the popula- tion of Norway and Iceland beyond the necessitv or even possibility to emigrate. If the communication * Washington Irving. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST T/.IGET (MT-3) V // // W., :/. (/x 1.0 I.I 1.25 tt Ilia 1= - IIP II 2,2 ilM . 1^ 1^ 1.8 6" U 11.6 v^ <9^ /i VI ^a Vl# .% -(!| .•5^'' m :." C? %. ^f //a 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STRIET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 .V'V^.V ^v iV ^ \ \ % .V Ky ^ «, o^ % '1? <> % v^^ %^ t^ 4P.. fe. w. TM \ it' m IM Mi! 92 AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS. between Vinland and the Korth could have been maintained say one hundred years longer, that is, to the middle of the fifteenth centurv, it is difficult to determine what the result would have been. Possi- bly this sketch would have appeared in Icelandic instead of English. Undoubtedly the Norse colonies would have become firmly rooted by that time, and Non^e language, nationality and institutions might Iiave played as conspicuous a part in America as the English and their posterity do now-a-days. ii- CHAPTER XVII. CONCLUSION. ~DUT it is not within the scope of this sketch to discuss this subject any farther. Let us remember Leif Erikson, the first white man who turned the bow of his ship to the west for the pur- pose of finding America. Let us remember his brother, Thorvald Erikson, the first European and the first Christian who was buried beneath Ameri- can sod! Let us not forget Thorfinn and Gud- EiD, who estabh'shed the first European colony in New England ! nor their little son, Snorre, the first man of European blood whose birthplace was in the New World! Let us erect a monument to Leif Erikson worthy of the man md the cause; and while the knowledge of this discovery of America lay for a long time hid in the unstudied literature of Iceland, let us take this lesson, that ''truth crushed to earth uill rise again; " that truth may often lie darkened and hid for a long time, but that it is like the beam of light from a stir in some far distant region of the universe — after 94 AME14I0A NOT UISCOV£ltED BY (JOLU.MliUS. I'll* 1 1 i i II' i'i ' fir 1 thousands of years it reaches some heavenly body and gives it light. In the language of Mr. Davis: "Let us praise Leif Erikson for his courage, let us applaud him for his zeal, let us respect him for his motives, for he was anxious to enlarge the boundaries of knowl- edge, lie reached the wished-for land, " ' Where now the western sun, O'er fields and floods, O'er every living soul DifFuseth glad repose.' He opened to the view a broad region, where smil- ing hope invites successive generations from the old world. " Such men as an Alexander, or a Tamerlane, conquer but to devastate countries. Discoverers add new regions of fertility and beauty to those already known. "And are not the hardy adventurers, plowing the briny deep, more attractive than the troops of Alexander, or Napoleon, marching to conquer the world, with plumes waving in the gentle breeze, and with arms glittering in the sunbeams? Who can tell all the benefits that discoverers confer on mankind ? " To count them all demands a thousand tongues, A throat of brass and adamantine lungs.'" WHAT SCHOLARS SAY ABOUT THE Historical, Linguistic and Literary Value OF THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. "Der ar flagga pa mast och den visar at norr, och i iiorr ar den jilskade jord • jag vill folja dc himmelska vindarnas gang, jag vill styra tillbaka mot Nord." ENGLISH VERSION. — Tegner. " '"T"',' T !"« ^ ""' '"""■ '"■<' " l>»l»ts to the North ADd the Noith hold, th» l.„d that I love ' I W,I .t™r hack to northward, th« heavenly cour.e Of the wMds guiding ,„,e troro above." ^ERY little attention has hitherto been given i„ this country to the study of Scandinavian history angnages and literatures. We think this bnt h of study would not be so much neglected, if it were l^e generally known what an extensive source of iX lectua pleasure it affords to the scholar who is ac- quam ed wUh it. We hope, therefore, to serve a go d cause by calhng your attention to a few quotations from American, English, German, and French schol , w have given much time and attention to the above named subject, m order that it may be known what they wl „ •^mm t. 96 THE 8CA^•1)INAV1A^• LANGUACJElJ. may justly be considered competent to judge, say of their importance. I will add that 1 have not found a scholar, who has devoted himself to this field of stuily and research, that has not at the same time become an enthusiastic admirer of Scandinavian and particularly Icelandic history, lan- guages and literatures. . To scientific students it is sufficient to say, that a knowledge of the Scandinavian languages at once intro- duces them to several writers of great eminence in the scientific world. I will briefly mention a few. Hans Christian Oersted won for himself one of the greatest names of the age. His discovery, in 1830, of electro-magnetism — the identity of electricity and mag- netism — which he not only discovered, but demon- strated incontestably, placed him at once in the highest rank of physical philosophers, and has led to all the wonders of the electric telegraph. His great work, " The Soul of Nature," in which he promulgates his grand doctrine of the universe, abundantly repays a careful ])erusal. Carl von Linne (Linna3us) is the polar star in botany. He was professor at the University of Sweden, died in- 1788, and is the founder of the established system of botany. As Linnteus is the father of botany, so Ber- ZELius might be called the father of the present system of chemistry. He is one of the greatest ornaments of science. He devoted his whole life sedulously to the promotion and extension of his favorite science, and to him is the world indebted for the discovery of many new elementary principles and valuable chemical com- .,. — ->' — — THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 97 hiiuitions now in general use. He filled the chair of chemistry in the University of Stockholm for forty-two years, and died in 1848. Scheele, Michael Sars, Hansteen, and several others, are men who have dis- tinguished themselves by their labors in the field of science, natural history and astronomy. And now read the following quotations, which we have promised to present. Mr. North Ludlow Beamish says: "The national literature of Iceland holds a distinct and eminent position in the literature of Europe. In that remote and cheer- less isle * * * religion and learning tqok up their tranquil abode, before the south of Europe had yet emerged from the iriontal darkness which followed the fall of the Roman Empire. There the unerring memo- ries of the Skalds and Sagamen were the depositories of past events, which, handed down from age to age, in one unbroken line of historical tradition, were committed to writing on the introduction of Christianity, and now come before us with an internal evidence of their truth, which places them amongst the liiglied order of historical records. " To investigate the origin of this remarkable ad- vancement in mental culture, and trace the progressive steps by which Icelandic literature attained an eminence which even now imparts a lustre to that barren land, is an object of interesting and instructive inquiry. "Among no other people of Europe can the concep- tion and birth of historical literature be more clearly traced than amongst the people of Iceland. Here it can be shown how memory took root, and gave birth to 98 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. luirrative; how narrative multiplied and increased until it was committed to writing, and how the written rela- tion eventually became sifted and arranged in chrono- logical order/' Samuel Laing, Esq. — "All that men hope for of good government and future improvement in their physical and moral condition, — all that civilized men enjoy at this day of civil, religious and political liberty — the British constitution, representative legislature, the trial by jury, security of property, freedom of mind and person, the influence of public opinion over the con- duct of public affairs, the Reformation, the liberty of the press, the spirit of the age, — all that is or has been of value to man in modern times as a member of society, either in Europe or in America, may be traced to the spark left burning upon our shores by the Norwegian barbarians. "There seem no good grounds for the favorite and hackneyed course of all who have written on the origin of the British constitution and trial by jury, who un- riddle a few dark phrases of Tacitus concerning the institutions of the ancient Germanic tribes, and trace up to that obscure source the origin of all political institu- tions connected with freedom in modern Europe. In the (Norwegian) Sagas we find, at a period immediately preceding the first traces of free institutions in our history, the rude but very vigorous demonstrations of similar institutions existing in great activity among those northern people, who were masters of the country under Canute the Great, who for two generations before his time had occupied and inhabited a very large portion I||i;ii THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 99 of it, and of wliom a branch under William of Normandy became its ultimate and permanent conquerors. It may be more classical to search in the pages of Tacitus for allusions to the customs of the tribes wandering in his day through the forests of Germany, which may bear some faint resemblance to modern institutions, or to what we fancy our modern institutions may have been in their infancy ; but it seems more consistent with correct principles of historic research to look for the origin of our institutions at the nearest, not at the most remote, source ; not at what existed 1,000 years before in the woods of Germany, among people whom we must believe upon supposition to have been the ancestors of the invaders from the north of the Elbe, who conquered England, and must again believe upon supposition, that when this people were conquered successively by the Danes and Normans, they imposed their own peculiar institutions upon their conquerors, instead of receiving institutions from them ; but at what actually existed, when the first notice of assemblies for legislative pur- poses can be traced in English history among the con- querors of the country, a cognate people, long established by previous conquests in a large portion of it, who used, if not the same, at least a language common to both, and who had no occasion to borrow, from the conquered, institutions which were flourishing at the time in their mother country in much greater vigor. It is in these (Norwegian) Sagas, not in Tacitus, that we have to look for the origin of the political institutions of England. The reference of all matters to the legislative assemblies of the people is one of the most striking facts in the Sagas. • 100 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. |!i: ii^i •' The Sagas, although composed by natives of Ice- hmd, are properly Xorweijian literature. The events, persons, manners, language, belong to Nonuay; and they are productions which, like the works of Homer, of Shakespeare, and of Scott, are strongly stamped with nationality of character and incident. " A portion of that attention, which has exhausted classic mythology, and which has too long dwelt in the Pantheons of Greece and Rome, and is wearied with fruitless efforts to learn something more, where, perliaps, nothing more is to be learned, may very profitably, and very successfully, be directed to the vast field of Gothic research. For we are Goths and the descendants of Goths — '"The men, Of earth's best blood, of titles manifold.' And it well becomes us to ask, what has Zeus to do with the Brocken, Apollo with Bftersburg, or Poseidon with the Northern Sea? The gods of our fathers were neither Jupiter, nor Saturn, nor Mercury, but Odin, Brage, or Eger. If we marvel at the pictures of heathen divinities as painted by classical hands, let us not forget that our ancestors had deities of their own — gods as mighty in their attributes, as refined in their tastes, as heroic in their doings, as the gods worshiped in the Parthenon or talked about in the forum." M. Mallet says : " History has not recorded the annals of a people who have occasioned greater, more sudden, or more numerous revolutions in Europe than the Scandinavians, or whose antiquities, at the same time, are so little known. Had, indeed, their emigra- THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 101 tions been only like those sudden torrents of which all traces and remembrance are soon effaced, the indifference that has been shown to them would have been sutii- ciently justified by the barbarism they have been ap- proached with. But, during those general inundations, the face of Europe underwent so total a cliange, and during the confusion they occasioned, such different establishments took place ; new societies were formed, animated so entirely by the new spirit, that the history of our own manners and institutions ouglit necessarily to ascend back, and even dwell a considerable time upon a period which discovers to us their chief origin and source. " But I ought not barely to assert this. Permit me to support the assertions by proof. For this purpose let us briefly run over all the different revolutions which this part of the world underwent during the long course of ages which its history com})rehends, in order to see what share the nations of the North have had in pro- ducing them. If we recur back to the remotest times, we observe a nation issuing step by step from the forests of Scythia, in' "santly increasing and dividing to take possession of the uncultivated countries which it met with in its progress. Very soon after, we see the same people, like a tree full of vigor, extending long branches over all Europe ; we see them also carrying with them whe'ever tliey came, from the borders of the Black Sea to the extremities of Spain, of Sicily, and of Greece, a religion simple and martial as themselves, a form of government dictated by good sense and liberty, a restless unconquered spirit, apt to take lire at the very mention of subjection and constraint, and a ferocious courage 102 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. nourished by a savage and vagabond life. While the gentleness of the climate softened imperceptibly the fero- city of those who settled in the Soutii, colonies of Egy})- tians and Phenicians mixing with them upon the coasts of Greece, and thence passing over to those of Italy, taught them at last to live in cities, to cultivate letters, arts and commerce. Thus their opinions, their customs and genius, were blended together, and new states were formed upon new plans. Home, in the meantime, arose and at length carried all before her. In proportion as she increased in grandeur, she forgot her ancient man- ners, and destroyed, among the nations whom she over- powered, the original spirit with which they were ani- mated. But this spirit continued unaltered in the colder countries of Europe, and maintained itself there like the independency of the inhabitants. Scarce could fifteen or sixteen centuries pro( uce there any change in that spirit. There it reneweu itself incessantly; for, during the whole of that long interval, new adventurers issuing continually from the original inexhaustible country, trod upon the heels of their fathers toward the north, and, being in their turn succeeded by new troops of followers, they pushed one anotlier forward like the waves of the sea. The northern countries, thus over- stocked, and unable any longer to contain such restless inhabitants, equally greedy of glory and plunder, dis- charged at length upon the Roman Empire the weight that oppressed them. The barriers of the empire, ill defended by a people whom prosperity had enervated, were borne down on all sides by torrents of victorious armies, ^e then see the conquerors introducing, among the nations they vanquished, viz., into the very bosom THE SCANDINAVIAN LANOUACfES. 103 :m of slavery and sloth, that spirit of independence and equality, that elevation of soul, that taste for rural and military life, which both the one and the other hjul originally derived from the same common source, but which were then among the Romans breathing their last. Dispositions and principles so opposite, struggled long with forces sufficiently equal, but they united in the end, they coalesced together, and from their coalition sprung those principles and that spirit which governed nfter- ward almost all the states of Europe, and which, not- withstanding the differences of climate, of religion, and particular accidents, do visibly reign in them, and retain, to this day, more or less, the traces of their tirst common origin. " It is easy to see, from this short sketch, how greatly the nations of the earth have influenced the different fat ' of Europe ; and if it be worth while to trace its revolutions to their causes; — if the illustration of its institutions, of its police, of its customs, of its manners, of its laws, be a subject of useful and interesting inquiry, it must be allowed that the antiquities of the North, that is to say, everything which tends to make us ac- quainted with its ancient inhabitants, merits a share in the attention of thinking men. But to render this obvious by a particular example : is it not well known that the most flourishing and celebrated states of Europe owe originally to the northern nations whatever liberty they now enjoy, either in their constitution or in the spirit of their government? For although the Gothic form of government has been almost everywhere altered or abolished, have we not retained, in most things, the opinions, the customs, the manners which that govern- i* p i *> 104 THE Scandinavia:; languages. ment had a tendency to produce ? Is not this, in fact, the principal source of that courage, of tliat aversion to shivery, of that empire of honor which characterized in general the European nations; and of that moderation, of that easiness of access, and peculiar attention to the rights of humanity, which so happily distinguish our sovereigns from the inaccessible and superb tyrants of Asia ? The immense extent of the Koman Empire had rendered its constitution so despotic and military, many of its emperors were such ferocious monsters, its senate was become so mean-spirited and vile, that all elevation of sentiment, everything that was noble and manly, seems to have been forever banished from their hearts and minds; insomuch that if all Europe had received the yoke of Rome in this her state of debasement, this fine part of the world reduced to the inglorious con- dition of the rest could not have avoided falling into that kind of barbarity, which is of all others the most incurable; as, by making as many slaves as there are men, it degrades them so low as not lo leave them even r* thought or desire of bettering their condition. But nature has long prepared a remedy for such great evils, in that unsubmitting, unconquerable spirit with which she has inspired the people of the North; and thus she made amends to the human race for all the calamities whicli, in other respects, the inroads of these nations and the overthrow of the Roman Empire produced. "The great prerogative of Scandinavia (says the ad- mirable author of the Spirit of Laws*), and what ought to recommend its inhabitants beyond every people upon earth, is, that they afforded the great resource to the * Barou de MontoBqiiicu (L'Esprit de Lois). THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 105 liberty of Europe, that is, to almost all the liberty tliat is among men. The Goth Jornande, adds he, calls the North of Europe the forge of mankind. I should rather call it the forge of those instruments which broke the fetters manufactured in the South. It was there those valiant natioub were bred who left their native climes to destroy tyrants and slaves, and so to teach men that nature having made them equal, no reason could be assigned for their becoming dependent but their mutual happii:css." H. W. LoNGFKLLOW is an enthusiastic admirer of the Scandinavian languages. Of the Icelandic he says: "The Icelandic is as remarkable as the Anglo-Saxon for its abruptness, its obscurity and the boldness of its metaphors. Poets are called Songsmiths; — poetry, the Language of the Gods; — gold, the Jaylight of Dwarfs; — the heavens, the Scull of Ymer; — the rainbow, the Bridge of the Gods ; — a battle, a Bath of Blood, the Hail of Odin, the Meeting of Shields ; — the tongue, the Sword of Words ; — a river, the Sweat of Earth, the Blood of the Valleys; — arrows, the Daughters of Misfortune, the Hailstones of Helmets; — the earth, the Vessel that floats on the Ages; — the sea, Lhe Field of Pirates; — a ship, the Skate of Pirates, the Horse of the Waves. The an3ient Skald (Bard) smote the strings of his harp with as bold a hand as the Berserk smote his foe. When heroes fell in battle he sang to them in his Drapa, or death-song, that they had gone to drink 'divine mead in the secure and tranquil palaces of the gods,' in that Valhalla upon whose walls stood the watchman Heim- dal, whose ear was so acute that he could hear the grass «, . 106 THB SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. liiifi grow in the meadows of earth, and the wool on ^he backs of sheep. He lived in a credulous age, in the dim twilight of the past. He was ' The sky-lark in the dawn of years. The poet of the morn.' In the vast solitudes around him, the heart of Nature beat against his own. From the midnight gloom of groves, the deep- voiced pines answered the deeper- voiced and neighboring sea. To his ear, these were not the \oices of dead, but living things. Demons rode the ocean like a weary steed, and the gigantic pines flapped their sounding wings to smite the spirit of the storm. "Still wilder and fiercer were these influences of Nature in desolate Iceland, than on the mainland of Scandinavia. Fields of lava, icebergs, geysers and vol- canoes were familiar sights. When the long winter came, and the snowy Heckla roared through the sunless air, and the flames of the Northern Aurora flashed along the sky, like phantoms from Valhalla, the soul of the poet was filled with images of terror and dismay. He bewailed the death of Baldur, the sun ; and saw in each eclipse the horrid form of the wolf, Maanegarm, wiio swallowed the moon and stained the sky with blood." Professor W. Fiske, of Cornell University, who is undoubtedly the most learned northern scholar in this country, Avho has spent several years in the Scandinavian countries, and wiio is an enthusijvStic admirer of Iceland and its Sagas, has sent me the following lines for inser- tion in this appendix: " It is not necessary to dwell on the value of Icelandic to those who desire to investigate the early history of the THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 107 Teutonic race. The religious belief of our remote an- cestors, and very many of their primitive legal and social customs, some of which still influence the daily life of the people, find their clearest and often their only eluci- dation in the so-called Eddie and Skaldic lays, and in the Sagas. The same writings form the sole sources of Scandinavian history before the fourteenth century, and they not infrequently shed a welcome ray on the obscure annals of the British Islands, and of several continental nations. They furnish, moreover, an almost unique ex- ample of a modern literature which is completely indige- nous. The old Icelandic literature, which Mr)Uiu.s truly characterizes as 'ein PhJlnomen vom Standpunkie der allgemeinen Cultur und Literaturgeschichte,' and be- side which the literatures of all the other early Teutonic dialects — Gothic, Old High German, Saxon, F'isian, and Anglo-Saxon — are as a drop to a bucket of water, developed itself out of the actual life of the people under little or no extraneous influence. In this respect it de- serves the careful study of every student of letters. For the English-speaking races especially there is nowhere, so near home, a field promising to the scholar so rich a harvest. The few translations, or attempted transla- tions, which are to be found in English, give merely a faint idea of the treasures of antique wisdom and sublime poetry which exist in the Eddie lays, or of the quaint simplicity, dramatic. action, and striking realism which characterize the historical Sagas. Nor is the modern literature of the language, with its rich and abundant stores of folk-lore, unworthy of regard." Benjamin Lossing says: "It is back to the Nor- wegian Vikings we must look for the hardiest elenu'uts of progress in the United States." ■p 108 THE SOANniNAVIAN LANGUAGES. B. F. De Costa. — "Let us vumember that in vindi- cating the Nortinncn we lionor those who not only give us the tirst knowledge possessed of the American conti- nent, but to whom we are indebted for much besides tluit / we esteem valuable. For we fable in a great measure when we speak of our Saxon inheritance; it is rather from the Northmen that we have derived our vital energy, our freedom of tliought, and, in a measure that we do not yet suspect, our strength of speech. Yet, happily, the people are fast becoming ct)nscious of their indel)tedness ; so that it is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when the Northmen maybe recognized in their right social, l)olitical and literary characters, and at the same time, as navigators, assume their true position in the Pre-Co- lumbian Discovery of America. "The twelfth century Avas an era of great literary activity in Iceland, and the century following showed the same zeal. Finally Iceland possessed a body of i)rose literature superior in ([uantity and value to that of any other modern nation of its time. Indeed, the natives of Europe, at this period, had no prose literature in any modern language spoken by the people. "Yet while other nations were without a literature, the intellect of Iceland was in active exercise and works were produced like the EuuAS and IIeimskkingla, — works which, being inspired by a lofty genius, will rank with the writings of IIomeu and Herodotus while time itself endures." •' / Says Sir Edmund IIkad, in regard to the Norwegian literature of tlie tirelflh century: " No doubt there were translations in Anglo-Saxon from the Latin, by Alfred, A THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 10!> of an earlier date, but there was in trutli no vernacular literature. I cannot name/' he says, '* any work in high or low German pro.se which can be carried back to tliis period. In France, prose writing cannot be said to have begun before the time of Villcliardouin (1204) an Join- ville (1203); Castilian prose certainly did not begin before the time of Alfonso X (1252); Don Juan Marvel, the author Conde Lucanor, was not born till 1282. The Cronica (^e)icral dc J'Jspdiia was not composed till at least the middle of the thirteenth century. About the same time the language of Italy was acf[uiring that soft- ness and strength which were destined to appear so con- spicuously in the prose of Boccaccio and the writers of the next century. " Of course there was more or less poetry, yet poetry is something that is early develo])ed among the rudest nations, wliile good prose tells that a people have become highly advanced in mental culture." William and Mauy IIowitt. — "There is nothing besides the Bible, wliich sits in a divine tranciuillity of unapproa(3hable nobility, like a King of Kings amongst all other books, and the poem of Homer itself, which can compare in all the elements of greatness with the Edda. There is a loftiness of stature and a growth of muscle about it which no poets of the same race have ever since reached. The obscurity which hangs over some parts of it, like the deep shadows crouching mid the ruins of the past, is probably the result of dilapidations; but, amid this, stand forth the boldest masses of intellectual nui- sonry. We are astonished at the wisdom which is sha})ed into maxims, and at the tempestuous strength of passion^s ». 110 TIIK 8CANI)lNAVIAiN LANGUAGES. to vvliich Jill modern emotions appear puny and con- strained. Amid the bright sunlight of a far-off time, surrounded by tlie densest shadows of forgotten ages, we come at once into the midst of gods and lierots, god- desses and fair women, giants and dwarfs, n.oving about in a world of wonderful construction, unlike any other worlds or creations which God has founded or man has imagined, but still beautiful beyond conception. "The Icelandic poems have no parallel in all the treasures of ancient literature. They are the expressions of the souls of poets existing in the primeval and un- efTcminated earth. They are limnings of men and women of godlike beauty and endowments, full of the vigor of simple but impetuous natures. There are gigantic pro- portions about them. There are great and overwhelming tragedies in them, to which those of Greece only present any parallels. '' The Edda is a structure of that grandeur and im- portance that it deserves to be far better known to us generally than it is. The spirit in it is sublime and colossal." I Pliny Miles. — "The literary history of Iceland in the early ages of the Republic is of a most interesting character, When we consider the limited population of the country, and the many disadvantages under which they labored, tUch' literature is the moxt remarkable on record. The old Icelanders, from the tenth to the six- teenth century, through a period of the history of the world when little intellectual light beamed from the sur- rounding nations, were as devoted and ardent workers in the fields of history and poetry as any community in the THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. Ill m world under the most fiivorablc circiimsfances. Spring- ing from the Old Norse or Norwegian stock, they carried tiie language and habits of their ancestors with them to their highland home. Though a veri/ large number of our English words are derived direct from the Icelandic, yet the most learned and indefatigable of our lexicog- raphers, both in England and America, have ackno^vl- edged their ignorance of this language. , "The Eddas abound in mythological machinery to an extent quite equal to the writings of Homer and Virgil." The learned German writer Schlegel, in his "Es- thetics and Miscellaneous Works," says : " If any monu- ment of the primitive northern world deserves a place amongst the earlier remains of the South, the Icelandic Edda must be deemed worthy of that distinction. The spiritual veneration for Nature, to which the sensual Greek was an entire stranger, gushes forth in the mys- terious language and prophetic traditions of the North- ern Edda with a full tide of enthusiasm and inspiration sufficient to endure for centuries, and to supply a whole race of future bards and poets with a precious and ani- mating elixir. The vivid delineations, the rich, glowing abundance and animation of the Homeric pictures of the world, are not more decidedly superior to the misty scenes and shadowy forms of Ossian, than the Northern Edda is in its stiblimity to the works of Hesiod." Prof. Dr. Deitrich asserts " that the Scandinavian literature is extraordinarily rich in all kinds of writings." Hon. George P. Marsh. — "It must suffice to re- mark that, in the opinion of those most competent to •• . 11-2 THE SCAMUNAVIAN LANGLAGES. judge, the Iceluiidic literat.ure has never been surpassed, if equaled, in all that gives value to that portion of his- tory which consists of spirited delineations of character and faithful and lively pictures of events among nations in a rude state of society. " That the study of the Old Northern tongue may have an important bearing on English grammar and etymology, will be obvious, when it is known that the Icelandic is most closely allied to the Anglo-Saxon, of which so few monuments are extant; and a slight examination of its structure and remarkable syntactical character will satisfy the reader that it may well deserve the attention of the philologist." The excellent writer, CnARLfzs L. Brace, in speak- ing of Iceland, says: "The Congress, or 'Althing,' of the Icelanders, had many of the best political features which have distinguished parliamentary government in all branches of the Teutonic race since. Every free- holder voted in it, and its decisions governed all inferior courts. It tried the lesser magistrates, and chose the presiding oflBccrs of the colony. "To this remote island (Iceland) came, too, that re- markable profession, who were at once the poets, his- torians, genealogists and moralists of the Norse race, the Skalds. These men, before writing was much in use, handed down by memory, in familiar and often alliterative poetry, the names and deeds of the brave Norsemen, their victories on every coast of Europe, their histories and passions, and wild deaths, their family ties, and the boundaries of their possessions, their adventures and voyages, and even their law and ■,.'ll THE SCANDINAVIAN LANG A0E8. 113 their mythology. In fact, all that history and legal doc- umentr;, and genealogical records and poetry transmit now, was handed down by these bards of the Norsemen. Iceland bucarae their peculiar center and home. Here, in bold and vivid language, they recorded in works, which posterity will never let die, the achievements of the Vikings, the conquest of almost every people in Europe hy these vigorous pirates; their wild ventures, their contempt of pain and death, their absolute joy in danger, combat and difficulty. In these, the oldest re- cords of our (i. e., the Americans') forefathers, will be found even among these wild rovers the respect for law which has characterized every branch of the Teutonic race since; liere, and not in the Swiss cantons, is the beginning of Parliament and Congress ; here, and not with the Anglo-Saxons, is the foundation of trial hy jury; and here, among their most ungoverned wassail, is that high reverence for woman, which has again come forth hy inheritance among the Anglo- Norse Americans. The ancestors (at least morally) of Raleigh and Nelson, and Kane and Farragut, appear in these records, among these sea-rovers, whose passion was danger and venture waters. Here, too, among such men as the Floki,' is the prototype of those American pioneers who follow the wild birds into pathless wilder- nesses to found new republics. And it is the Norse ^'udal" />/*6|per^/y, not the European feudal property, tuhich is the model for the American descendants of the ancient Norseman. " In these Icelandic Sagas, too, is portrayed the deep moral sentiment wliidi characterizes the most ancient mythology of the Teutonic races. Here we liave no 5* on the ' Raven 114 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANOLAGE8. dissolute Piiutlicoii, with gods revelling eternally in earthly vices, and the evils and wrongs of humanity continued forever. Even the ghosts of the Northmen havi.' the muscle of the race ; they are no pale shadows Hitting through the Orcus. The dead tight and eat with the vigor of the living. But there comes a dread time when destiny overtakes all, both human and divine beings, and the universe with its evil and wrong must perish (Ragnarokr). Yet even the crack of doom lintls not the Norsemen timid or fearing. Gods and men die in the heat of the conflict; and there survives alone, Baldur, the ' God of Love,' who shall create a new heaven and a new earth. " It is from Iceland that we get the wonderful poetic and mythologic collections of the Elder and Younger Eddas. In this remote island the original Norse lan- guage was preserved more purely than it was in Norway or Denmark, and the Icelandic literature «hed a tlood of light over a dark and barbarous age. Even now the modern Icelanders can read or repeat their most ancient Sagas with but little change of dialect. " But to an American, one of the most interesting gifts of Iceland to the world is the record of the dis- covery of Northern America by Icelandic rovers (?) near the year 1000. "We think few scliolars can carefully read these Sagas, and the accompanying in regard to Greenland, without a conviction that the Icelandic and Norwegian Vikings did at that early period discover and land on the coast of our eastern States. * * * -The shortest winter day is stated with such precision as to fix the lati- tude near the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUA0K8. 115 * * * Icoluiul, then, has the honor of having discovered America. " Tiiat volcanic-raised island, with its mountains of ice and valleys of lava and ashes, has played no mean part in the world's history.'' — Christian Union., July 15, lS7Jf. The famous George Stepiiexs, in his elaborate work on "Runic Monuments," having discussed the impor- tance of studying the Scandinavian languages in order that many of our fine old roots may again creep into circulation, says: "Let us (the English) study the Scan- dinavian languages, and ennoble and restore our mother tongue. Let the Scandinavians study Old Engli.sh as well as their own ancient records, give up mere provincial views, and melt their various duilects into one shining, rich, sweet and manly speech, as wc have done in Eng- land. Their High Northern shall then live forever, the home language of eight millions of hardy freemen, our brothers in the east sea, our Warings and Guardsmen against the grasping clutches of the modern Hun and the modern Vandal. The time may come when the kingdom of Canute may l)e restored in a nobler shai)e, when the bands of Sea-kings shall rally round one Northern Union standard, when one scepter shall sway the seas and coasts of our forefathers from the Thames to the North Cape, from Finland to the Eider. " We have watered our mother tongue long enough with bastard Latin ; let us now brace and steel it with the life-water of our own sweet and soft and rich and shining and clear ringing and manly and world-ranging, ever dearest English ! " *, • i.i;.. 1. :f' 11 110 THE SLANDINAVIAN LANOLAOE8. In his preface to his Icelandic grammar, Dr. G. W. Dasent says: "Putting aside the study of Old Norse for the sake of its magnitieent literature, and consider- ing it merely as an accessory help for the English student, we shall tind it of immense advantage, not only in trac- ing the rise of words and idioms, but still more in clear- ing up many dark points in our early history ; in fact, so highly do I value it in this respect, that I cannot imagine it possible to write a satisfactory history of the Anglo-Saxon period without a thorough knowledge of the Old Norse literature." Dr. Dasent, in his introduction to Cleasby's and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, says of Iceland : " No other country in Europe possesses an ancient vernacular to be compared with this." And again: "Whether in a literary or in a philological point of view, no literature in Europe in the middle ages can compete in interest with that of Iceland. It is not certainly in forma pau- peris that she appears at the tribunal of learning." In another place ho remarks : " In it (the Dictionary) the English student now possesses a key to that rich store of knowledge which the early literature of Iceland possesses. He may read the Eddas and Sagas, which contain sources of delight and treasures of learning such as no other language but that of Iceland possesses." The distinguished German scholar, Ettmuller, in comparing the literature of the Anglo-Saxons with that of the Icelanders, says: "NeitL..r the Goths, nor the Germans, nor the French, can be compared with the Anglo-Saxons in the cultivation of letters. By the Scan- dinavians aloiie, they are not only equaled, but also sur- THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 117 'l- passed in literature." Amla.c;ain: "If the Scandinavians excel in lyric poetry, the Anglo-Saxons can boast of their epic poetry. If the famous island in the remote North- ern Sea applied itself with distinguished honor to his- torical studies, the isle of tlie Anglo-Saxons is especially entitled to praise from the fact that it produced orators, who, considering the time in wliich tliey lived, were de- cidedly excellent." Max Muller, in his "Science of Language," says: "There is a third stream of Teutonic speech, which it would be impossible to place in any but a co-ordinate position with regard to Gothic, Low and Iligii German. This is the Scamiinacian branch." In Wheaton's "History of the No- ihmen," we find the following passages: "The Icelanders cherished and cultivated the language and literature of their ancestors with remarkable success. * * * in Iceland an independent literature grew up, flourished, and was brought to a certain degree of perfection before the re- vival of learning in the south of Europe.''' Robert Buchanan, the eminent English writer, in reviewing the modern Scandinavian literature, says: " While German literature darkens under the malignant star of Deutschthum, wliile French art, sickening of its long disease, crawls like a leper through the light and wholesome world, while all over the European continent one wan influence or another asserts its despair-engen- dering sway over books and men, whither shall a be- wildered student fly for one deep breath of pure air and wholesome ozone ? Goethe and Heine have sung their lili 118 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. !;Ih ill l# best — and worst; Alfred de Musset is dead, and Victor Hugo is turned politician. Grillparzer is still a mystery, thanks partly to the darkening medium of Carlyle's hostile critii m. From the ashes of Teutonic tran- scendentalism rises Wagner like a Pha-nix, — a bird too uncommon for ordinary comprehension, but to all in- tents and purposes an anomaly at best. One tires of anomalies, one sickens of politics, one shudders at the petticoat literature tirst created at Weimar; and looking east and west, ranging with a true invalids hunger the literary horizon, one searches for something more natu- ral, for some form of indigenous and unadorned love- liness, wherewith to fleet the time pleasantly, as they did in the golden world. " That something may be found without traveling very far. Turn northward, in the footsteps of Teufels- drochk, traversing the great valleys of Scandinavia, and not halting until, like the philosopher, you look upon 'that slowly heaving Polar Ocean, over which in the utmost north the great sun hangs low.' Quiet and peace- ful lies Norway yet as in the world's morning. The flocks o" summer tourists alight upon her shores, and scatter themselves to their numberless stations, without disturbing the peaceful serenity of her social life. * * * The government is a virtual democracy, such as would gladden the heart of Gambetta, the Swedish monarch's rule over Norway being merely titular. There are no hereditary nobles. There is no 'gag' on the press. Science and poetry alike flourish on this free soil. The science is grand as Nature herself, cosmic as well as microscopic. The poetry is fresli, light, and pellucid, worthy of the race, and altogether free from Parisian taint.'' THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. 119 11 " Bjohnstjerne Bjornson,* one of the most emi- nent of living Norwegian autliors, is something more than even the finest pastoral taleteller of this generation. He is a dramatist of extraordinary power. He does not possess the power of imaginative fancy shown by Werge- landf (in such pieces as Jan van Huysums Blomsier- stykke), nor Welhaven's| refinement of phrase, nor the wild, melodious abandon of his greatest rival, the author of Peer Gyut ;\\ but, to my thinking at least, he stands as a poet in a far higher rank than any of these writers. " In more than one respect, particularly in the loose, disjointed structure of the piece, 'Sigurd Slembe' re- minds one of Goethe's ' Goetz,' but it deals witli materials far harder to assimilate, and is on the whole a finer picture of romantic manners. Audhild (a prominent character in 'Sigurd Slembe') is a creation worthy of Goethe at his best; worthy, in my opinion, to rank with Cla3rchen, Marguerite and Mignon as a masterpiece of delicate characterization. And here I may observe, inci- dentally, that Bjornson excels in his pictures of delicate * BjOrnstjekne Hj()UNson was horn in 1832; has written several novels, dramas and epic poems. '•Sigurd Slenibe" is a drama, published in 18(13, of which Robert Buchauiin says: "It is, besides being a masterpiece by its author, a drama of which any living European author might be justly proud." Several of hfs novels, including "Arne," "A Happy Boy," "The Fisher- maiden." have been translated into English. t IIknrik Arnolii Wkroelanu was born in 1808, and died in 184.'). He is the Byron of the North. His works comprise nine ponderous volumes. He excelled in lyrics. t John Sebastian Welhaven, born in 1807. died in 1873. Remarkable for the elegance and chasteness of his style. No jjoet has more l)eautitiilly and correctly described the natural scenery of Norway. I! The author of ''Peer Oi/nf is IIknrik Ibskn. born in 1828. Was en- gaged by Ole Bull as instructor at the theatre in Bergen, which position he occupied six years. He has written several dramatic works, chiefly of a polemic and exceedingly satirical nature. Many of his countrymen prefer Ibsen to Bjornson. His last work is • Kelser oy GalUoier.^'' «. 120 THE SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES. feminine types,— a proof, if proof were wanting, that he is worthy to take rank with the highest class of poetic creators." I might add to the above quotations from Max Miil- ler,the brothers Grimm and many other eminent writers; but in the first place this article is long enough, and in the next place the works of the last named authors are accessible to all who may wish to investigate this sub- ject further. My object has been to show that, in the opinion of those who have studied the subject, the North has a history, language and literature descv-'ng and amply rewarding some attention from American stu- dents. Of the good or ill performance of this task the reader, whom I earnestly request carefully to consider the contents of these pages, must be the judge. / / ii BIBLIOGEAPHY op THE PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOFERIES OF AMERICA. By PAUL BARRON WATSOX. These notes were begun a« an introduction to a tJiesis prepare.] under Ur. Ji,merton, in one of the liistory courses at Harvard Colh^rv Tlic proKcni essay is intended as a complete bibliography of those claims^to the discovery of America before Columbus which are based upon doc.unentary evidence Ihese claims are nine in number-Chinese (49«), Northmm (im^UW)' Arabs (about 1125), Welsh ,11T0>, Venetians (1380), Portuguese ,1463), Pol..; (14,6), Martin Behaim (1483), and Cousin of I)i..ppc ^1488). The order of arrangement is strictly chronological. The following abbreviations have been used: A: Augustus; B: Benjamin; C: Charles: T): David: E: Edward- P : Frederick G : George ; H : Henry ; I : I.aac : J : John : K : Karl : L : Lou f W w-^i- "'"""' ^ ""= """"^ ''■ ''''''■■ ''■ '^■■^■'""•'1= S: Samuel; T: Thorn! as, W . William; and for the corresponding forms of these names in other languages 3: 71 means that vol. 3, p. 71. of the work mentioned relates to the present subject The following libraries have be.m consulted, and in the fol- lowing order: Harvard College Library ,//.), Boston Public Library (BP) ?"h «"Kf m'"'"""^'^^-^''^"''''"'-"''"^"" I'ibrary (671), British Museum (iiJ/.i and Bibliotheque Nationale (BN.) I. DISCOVERY BY THE CIIIXESE. /.//^rf '* A^^f ^^^^^%J<'. //. n.s., 10: 188-301, In tliis article, by Gustavc dKichthnl, the question of the (')iinese is dis- cussed very fully. In till' llrst i)art tlie article of I)e(tuinncs, wliich dKiditlial considers conclusive, is analyzed; the second treats of the manner in \vhi(;h Buddhism is modified ami propagated; the third gives a rt'sume of tlie (obser- vations of Humboldt on the civilization of Asia and America; and tlu' .onrth treats of the presence of Buddhism ann)ng the North American Indians. Gentleman's magazine. London, 1809. n.s., 3:333-335. //. The discovery of America hy the Chinese, by C: Welles. liaises the cpiestion whether the Chinese did not discover America before Columbus. III? gives the account of lloef-Shin, wliich he seems to believe. This article was reprinted in the " Historical magazine,"' Morrisania, IHtii), ad 8., 11:2^1)- 221. Notes and queries on China and Japan. 1869-70. BP. Ilonfj^ Kong, Y. .1. N., .3: .58, says he has seen in a home i)aper that Neumann has fouiul that some Buddhist pri(!sts have discovered Anu'rica. The writer lu-gs to submit it to further eiuiuiry. Tlu'os. Samjison, .•^: T8-7!l, attempts to show that the Buddhist priest did not discover America. S.,-!: I!*, says that M. Li'on ilt? Kosny asserts that in Fusang deer and coppc'r are found. The writer argues from this tliat Fusang must be in the Arctic regions of America. Chinese recorder and missionary journal. Fonchow. Oct.. 1870. Fusang, or who discovered America, l)y Vi. Pretschneider. //. A very learned and exhaustive article favorable to the Chinese claim. Reprinted in Leland's "Fusang." Rosny, Leon de. Varietes orient ales. T'aris, 1873. p. 80. H. A brief description of Fiisang is here givi'n. Galaxy. N.Y., 1875. 20:513-514. //. Claims to the dis- covery of America, by J: T. Short. Discusses at considerable length the Chinese claim, and adds, "Wi> are more disi)osed to give credence to the llieory that the Ciiinese discovered America at a very early day than to attach much imi)ortance to the particular account of that discovery by llocI-Shin." \m M h> 124 PRP>COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Leland, C : G. Piisanj;^, or the discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist priests in the flftli century. London, 1875. UP. Contents. Profnco: Memoir of Prof. C": F: Xeninaiin; Nurrativp of HoeV- Shiii, Willi contents Ijy Prof. Neninann: Reniari. Xotae ad dissertationein Hngonis Grotii de origine gentiiun Aniericanaruin. Parisiis, 1643. pp. 1(11-103. .//. Says that, in 1121, Erik went in search of the island of Vinlaud, and died in the attempt, and that in 1000 Leif, Krik's son, convi'rted (ireenland to Christianity. Laet opposes Grotius" oi)iuion that America was peopled by the Norwegians, but it does not seem to occur to him that Vniland was a part of America. • Montanus, Arnoldiis. De Amst., 1671. p. 38-31. IL nieuwe en onbekende weereld. Favorable. Rudbeck Olf. At hind eller Manheini. Atlantica sive Man- heim. Upsalao. 1689. 1:391-292. JiM. Says that Adamns Brcmcnsis is mistaken in asserting tin existence of a place called Vinland. Oampanius, T:, of Holm. Kort beskrifiiing oni prnvincien Nya Swerige uti America. Stockholm, 1703. [English trunsla- ^ \*< 126 PRE-COLUMIJIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. tioii. iiiKler the title of " Doscriittioii of the Proviiuc of New Sweden," by P: S. du Ponceau. Phila., 18.'}4. pp. 28-;]l. //.] Gives briefly the account of tlic Northmen, which the author is Inclined to believe. Torfaeus, 'rhonuodus. Ilistoriii Vinhindiue ivntiqiiae. Havniae, 1705. JI. Contains a coninlote history of tlic discovery of Vinland, as talton from MSS. found in the lll)raries of tlie Nortli. Tiie nutlior docs not attempt to identify tlu' phiccs, except tliut Vinland was in North America. Torfaeus, Thorinodns. Gronlandia iinti(|ua. Ilaviiiae, 1700. [An edition, Havniae, 1715. Chap. 3: 10-17. BP.] (Jives the following extract from Ari:— "Indc colligi potest, id genus {fonteui illic permeasse, quae Vinlandiam incoluit, quam Graeiilandi Skrac- llntjia appellant." Mallet, Paul II: Introduction a Thistoire de Danneniarc. Copenliaj^en, 175."). [An Knji^li.sh translation, under the title of "Northern antitpiities," v. 1: ch. 11. //.] After diseussinj; at considerable lenKtli the discovery of America, he says, "There can be no doubt but that th(> Norwci^ian (Jreenlanders discovered the American continent; tliat the placi; wiiere tliey settled was either the country of Labrador or Newfoundland, and that their colony subsisted there a goo< that tlioy landed in Canada or Carolina. Boucher de la Richarderie, (rillos. Bil)liotlii!tiui; uiiiversolle (les voyages. I'mis, 1808. 1:48-51, //. Glvi'H a ))artial l)il)IioRra|)liy of tlio dlscovuricH of t\n- Northmen, with n brief account, of flic discovery of V in land. Annales de.s voyages. Paris. 1810. 10: 50-87. //. Tableau liisl()ii(|iie ties (lecoiive.rlcs geograpli 1(^1168 des Seaiulinuves on Nor- iiiaiids, par i\!alle-(?riui. In favor of ilu' dlHcoviiy of America by the Northmen. Contains an exact copy of tlic map of the Zcno brotliern, with one ehawing the discov- erie« of tiic Noi dinuii. Ilistorv of North Carolina. IMiila., 1812. Williamson, Hugh. 1: 4-8, 2l;{-215. Ji. Speaks of the disco\cry of America by the Northmen as an established fact, and f,'ives the account at some lem;th, referring; to Mallei and Torfieus. Pinkerton, -T: A general collection of tho best and most inter- esting voyages and travels in all parts of the world. London, 1814. 17: xxiii-xxiv, //. The Northmen "discovered Vinland, which seems to have been a part of Newfoundland." McCuUock, .lames II, Researches on Aincrieu. Baltimore, 1816. PI). 8-11. UP. Unfavorable, Miiller, P: Erasmus, Sagal)ihliothek. Copenhagen, 1816-30, [A (ierman translation of the first part, hy Ijaehmaini, Berlin, 1816, entitled '•Sagenhihiiothek des .skandinavischcn Altertluims in Aiisziigen," i)p, 213-215, //, Here is <;iven a synopsis of the Sa^a of Krik the Ke< in the Polar Seas au(l llegious. N. Y., 1833. p. 87. H. McntioMH {iiHimlly that "diirlfit; tlui 11th coiitiiry cliaiico or ciitiTiJriHc lorl Grccnlniid iiiivicatorH Hoiitliwanl to anotliiT coast, wlilch they called Viii- land, and which lian heeii vory jfcniTaily hclicvcd to hf America." They say further, that after a careful exainination of the authorities on whicit this opinion rewts. they have l)e('n led to siinposc that the new country was merely a more southern point of Oreenland. Priest, .losiali. American aiiticiuities, and discoveries in tlic pp. 324-240. //. West. Albany, 1833 Favorahle. Dupaix, Crnillaiimo. Aiiti(niite> mexicuines. Paris, 1834. vol. 1, no. J), pp. 48-4i). JiA. A favorahle article, by Franvols Charles Farcy. Dupaix, (iiiillaunie. Antiquites nicxicaincs. Recherches sur les antiquites de rAineri(iue du Nonl et de I'Anierique du Slid, par D: Bailie Warden. Paris, 1834. 1: pp. 146-154. BA. Favoral)le. Bancroft, Hon. G: History of the United States. Boston, 1834. 1 : r)-(5. H. Bancroft mentions the claims of the Northmen, and etves a list of the chief works whicli support these claims, but considers the whole story as vague, 11 veil as flctitious or exaggerated. Rafinesque, Constantine Snialtz. Phila., mid. 2:280-281. H. Favorable. The American nations. Humboldt, F: H: Alexander von. Exainen critique de I'his- toire de la geographic du nouveau continent. Paris, 1837. 1 : 84- 104. H. Humboldt gives a synopsis of the evidence contained in the Icelandic Sagas, and asserts with great confidence that the Northmen discovered America; he also believes tliat the parts which they visited were between New York and Newfoundland. Eongelige Nordiske Oldskrift Selskab. Antiquitates Ameri- canae, sivoScriptores Septentrionalcs rem in Ante-Columbianarum in America. Ilavniae, 1837. H. Contents. Praefatio; Conspectus codicnm membraneornm in nuibue terrarum Americanarum mentio fit; Abstract of the historical evidence; Narrationes de Eiriko Rufo et Graenlandis; llistoria Thorfinni Karlsefnii et Snorrii Thorbrandi fllii; Breviores relati(mes; Annotationes geographicae ; Addenda et emendanda; Index chronologicus; Index personarum; Inde^ geographicus; Index rerum; Genealogiae; Plates, lMiK-U«»r-UMI{lAN DISCOVKUIES OF AMERICA. 131 TliP ohjcrt wup 'o prove that the Nortliincn tll8covorcd Amoiica, niid thn accfiiiiit of their fllHCDVprlfs Is <;iviii In full, nn (m\u(\ in the iminuscriptH of the North, 'rtic siipi )>.(•(! rciiiaiiiH of the N'ortlinuMi In this ci. niry are iilao (llHciiswed lit li>n},'ili. Among the plates are fiie-sinilles of purlw of the ancient manuscripts, viewn of tlie Diytiton Itotk, anil maps of Iceland and VInland. Democratic review. Wasli.. 18;{8. 2: 85-90. HlJ-inS. //. Tlio tlisfovt'iy of Ainofica by tho Nortlunon, by Alcxiindor Everett. Tile historical evidence is connldered, and the ditTei-ent opinions on the subject are discussed. The autlior Is in doul)t about the I)i(;lilon I{ock, and believes that the Northmen settled in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Foreign quarterly review. London, 1838. 31:89-118. //. The discovery of America by the Northmen, before Columbus. This article Is much tlie same as that In the " Democratic review," but is at greater leiij;th, aud tlio writer speaks of tho discoverica of the Northmen as a certainty. North American review. Boston, 1838. 46: 101-203. If. Tiie discovery of American by tiie Northmen, by E: Everett. The writer here discusses at considerable length the probability of the discovery, as well as the authenticity of the accounts, and remarks, "While we are decidedly of <>|)inioii that the ancient hu^landic accounts, to which we liavc called tlic ii'tention of our readers, liav«? a foundation in historical truth, and that th(> coa, i of Nortii America, and very i)ossil)ly this portion of It, was visited by the Nortlimen, wo deem it exceedingly doubtful whether they made any permanent settlement on the continent."' New York review. N. Y., 1838. 3: 3r>2-357. BF. The "Antiquitates Americanie" is reviewed, f.nd the whole question is discussed, the chief writers on tlie si'bject beinr' referred to The writer fully belU^ves that the Northmen discovercil Anierica. but is inclined to think that the Old Mill and the inscription of the Digliton Rock are not tlieir work. Royal Geographical Society. Journal. London, 1838. 8: 114-129. //. An abstract of the historical evidence contained in the "Antiquitates Amcricame," in which the writer fully believes. Biondelli, B. Scoperta deirAmerica fatta nei secolo x. da alcuni Scandinavi. Mihm, 1839. H. A small pamphlet, in which is given a somewhat condensed account of the discovery of VInland, taken from the "Antiquitates Americanie. ' Smith, .Tosiiua Toulmin. Tho Northmen in New England, or America in the tenth century. Boston, 18.S9. H. This book contains an account of the Northmen, put in the form of con- versation. The questions of the Old Mill and tho Dighton Rock are also dis- cussed, both of which the author attributes to the Northmen. A map of Vinland is added. s| American Biblical repository. 3d ser., 1:430-449. H, N. y. and Boston, July, 1839. h. 132 riiE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. By H : R. Sclioolcraft. Gives the Prospectus issued by the Royal Society of Northern Antiiinurianfi; then the question of the discovery is discussed (which tlie writer beli(!ves). and a view of the Dighton Rock is added (though he regards the inscription as Algic) ; and finally a letter is given from Albert Gallatin, on the use of the letters v and I in the Eskimau language. Russell, liev. Michaol. Icolanil. Greenland, and tlie Faroe Isles. Edin., 1840. (Edinlnirgli cabinet library.) pp. 254-266. A. (Also in Harper's family library, N. Y., 1841.) Gives the account of the discovery of Vinland, and adds, "The history of Vinland giveii us by the Icelandic historians is interesting, not merely as connected with the countries of wliich we are now treating, but as proving that America was known to Europeans live hundred years before thcCienoese mariner set foot upon its shores. Discovery of America by the North- Beamish, North Ludlow, men. London, 1841. H. Contents. Sketch of the rise, eminence and extinction of Icelandic his- torica' literature; Saga of Erik the Red; Saga of Thorflnn Karlsefne; Geo- graphical notices; Monuments and inscriptions; Minor narratives; Complete dial of ihe ancient Northmen; Genealogical tables; Map of Vinland; En- graving of the inscription on the Dighton Rock ; General chart of the discov- eries of tiie Northmen in the Arctic Regions of America; Index. This Is little more than an English translation of those parts of the "An- tiquitates Americana; " which tlie author considered were likely to prove most interesting to British readers. Malte-Brun Conrad. Goographie iiniverselle. Paris, 1841. 1:204-206. H. Gives at some length tl d account of the discovery of Vinland, and regards it as beyond doubt that Vinland was a part of North America. Wilhelmi, K: Island, Huitramannaland, Gronland, iind Vin- land. Heidelberg, 1842. CB. Based upon the "Aiitiquitates Americanie." Written in support of the Northmen's claim. Contains a chart of their discoveries, identifying Hellu- land with Newfoundland, Markland with portions of Nova Scotia, Vinland with New Ilngland and New York, and Huitramannaland with the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas. Die Entdockung von America durch die und eilften Jahrhtmdcrt. Braunschweig. Hermes, K: H: Islander im zehnten 1344. BP. Contains in detail the accrnnt of the Northmen, the "Antiquitates Amer- icanm" being frequently referred to. An engraving of the Dighton Rock is also given, the inscription on v^hich the author bnlieves to be the work of the Northmen. Humboldt, F: II: Alexander von. Kosmos. Stiittg. n. Tlib., 1845. [An English translation, under the title of "Cosmos," London, 1849. 1: 603-608. H.] Gives the account of the discovery of Vinland, and refers to hir "Examen critique" for further particulars. PEE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 133 Oolombo, Cristoforo. Select letters; ed. by R: H- Maior (Hakluyt Society.) London, 1847. pp. xii-xxi \^ ^ ^ BP. Favorable. 184a*'!ff.' ^'''^'^^' ^"''^"^"«^ «f America. 20th ed. Boston, unt?°r'?.T!I',„f''„T''^'- '^" .""-'"""J" ,°' discoveries in the West until lolO, Hid of voyages to and a ong tlie Atlantic Coast of Nortl, America from 1520 to 1573. Richmond, 1848 pp tlO H theirmt""" osT^iTio^ 'T^zi.^^rr' "' ^"■"''^ "■' 32-35 ^'/r*^"' ^' "^'^^ c«"Q"est of Canada. N. Y., 1850. 1: Gives very briefly the account of the Northmen, without doubting it. «;f.^''°^rn'^'''li^- 'ri"'othy. The controversy tonchinff the old mu H "' '"''■" "^ ^'''^'"'■^' Kl>»de -Island. Newport, re J£ c=.s ff!S ffj";^./i;',:^^ 'br^s^iZa;::s^ts;:? ,;i( i:ll? 41 v< 134 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. The account of the Northmen is here given, in which the authors fully believe. New Bngland historical and genealogical register. Boston, 1853. 7: 13-14. H. A paper by C: C. Rafn contains a synopsis of the discoveries of the Northmen. Haven, S : F. Archteology of the United States. {In Smith- sonian Institution. Contributions to knowledge. Wash., 185G. V. 8, art. 1, pp. 10, 13, 26, 35, 03, 100-108. H.) "The narratives of the voyages of the Northmen, and their discovery of this country, are regarded as well attested, leaving the question open as tc the distance in a southerly direction to whicli their observations extended; and many striking coincidences seem to justify the conclusion that the Vinland of these narratives was really in Narragansett Bay." However, he regards the Dighton Rock and the tower at Newport as having nothing to do with the Northmen. Blackwood, P: Temple Hamilton Temple. [D)7'd Dufferin.] Letters from high latitudes. London, 1857. pp. 57-59. H. The claim of the Northmen is mentioned : the author believes it. Brasseur de Bourbourg, C: Etienne, Vabbe. Histoire des nations civilisees du Mexique et de rAmerique-Centrale. Paris, 1857. 1: 18-22. H. Favorable. ElUott, C: W. The New England history. K Y., 1857. 1: 18-37. BP. The account of the Northmen, in which the author fully believes, is given at considerable length. He adds a list of some of the authorities on the sub- ject. Notes and queries. London, 1858. 2d ser., v. 5. H. Alfred T. Lee, p. 314, remarks that Lord Dufferin says tliat America was discovered by Icelanders in the litli century. He asks for corroborative testimony. VV. D. II. replies, pp .38(i-387, that the evidence is given in "Antiqnitates Americana'," "North American review,'' v. 46. and the Earl of Ellesmere's "Guide to Nortliern arcliieology.'" W. H. Z. and W : Mattliews, p. 458, give a number of the authorities upon which the account rests. Nouvelle biographie gen^rale. Pari?, 1858. 10: 250-251. Eric. //. The account of the discovery of Vinland is here given in brief, but no opinion is expressed as to the trutli of it; a partial bibliograpiiy of the subject is added. Palfrey, J: Gorham. History of New England. Boston, 1858. 1: 51-58. //. ture Bbi as in PKE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OP AMERICA. 135 i;^th""ASS!;*y;l:^;^,;;-!)-- "»»keiy," and ia.um.. the pi,;^^ Peschel, Oscar Ferdinand. Geschichto dcs zcitaltcrs der ent- deekun;-(>n. Stiittg. u. Au-sb., 1858. pp. 102-106. ^' Favorable. Pai^sHm'^' l"'^"""" ^"^'""^^^^^'^^^ ^^«« Scandinaves en Amerique. canffi."™""^"""" ''^ ^''''' """^^ important parts of the " Antiquitates Ameri- Lo.Klnn^'i'sn)^^" fI«"^TfI'i^!?"'^tli« navigator. (Ilakluyt Society.) Liondon, 18W). pp. Ixvi-lxvii, ccxvi-ccxvii. H. Favorable. Desm-?s"!rfTor/i?A'-' ^'•'''^'- r^^'T" J'"'^'''*' ^•^^i^^^"^^ i" the Great uescits ot JNorth America. London, 1860. 1:52-64. BP. Gives the acconnt of the Northmen, which the author believes. 186f7iriii^Hv^T!'°"'^'^'^"'""''^''''^^'' P^P'^lV^^h. Paris, Tylor, E: Burnett. Anahuac. London, 1861. pp. 378-279. //. Favorable. Oharnay Desire, and Violet-le-Duc. Cites et mines ameri- eaines. Pans, 1863. pp. 10-11, 18, 23. BP Favorable. Favorable. tonas^rX' n5-l!if ° ff"" "'"=""'• P'-°™'»>"'»». 1805. Bos- It. > 136 PKE-COLUMBIAN DISCO VEKIES OF AMERICA. I the Northmen is discussed, and the views iield by the chief writers set fortli. Also contains many letters of interest from Prof. Uafn to Dr. Webb on the subject. Historical magazine. N.Y., December, 1865. 9:364-365. H. An article by D. G. B. to prove that Huitraniannaland was on tlie coast of Virginia or the Carolinas. De Oosta, Mev. B : Franklin. Pre-Colunioian discovery of Amer- ica by the Nortlimen. Albany, 1868. H. Contents. — Preface; General introduction; Gunnbiorn and his rocks: Eric the Ked's voyage to the coast of America; Leif Ericson's voyage to Vinland; Thorstein Ericson's attempt to seek Vinland; Tliorfinn Karlsefne's settlement in Vinland; Freydis's voyage and settlement in Vinland; Are Marson's pojourn in Iliiitramannalahd; Voyage of Biorn Asbrar'lson; Gudleif Gud- langson's voyage; Allusions to voyages found in ancient manuscripts; Geo- graphical fragments. The aim was to place within tlie reach of the English-reading historical student every portion of the Icelandic Sagas essentially relating to the Pre- Columbian discovery of America by the Northmen. North American review. Bo.ston. 1869. 109: 265-272. De Costa'.s discovery of America, by J. Lewis Diman. A short criticism of De Costa's work. H. I De Oosta, Rev, B: Franklin. Notes on a review of " The Pre- Columbian discovery of America by the Northmen," in the "North American review'' for July. Charlcstown, 1869. //. A reply to the criticism in the "X .'th American review.'' Historical magazine. Morrisania, January, 1869. 2d ser. 5:30-31. //. An article by Joseph Williamson. P*ates that the remains of some very early settlements have been found in ditt> ••ent parts of Maine, and the writer, referring to tile account of the discovery of America by the Northmen, sug- gests that they may have been left by them.; Historical magazine. Morrisania. March, 1869. n.s. v. 5, no. 3, pp. 170-179. H. Tlie Ante-Columbian discovery of the American continent by the Northmen, by F. Bogj^ild. The account is given, and the inscription on the Dighton Rock is discussed, which the writer does not consider the work of tlie Northmen. To this article De Costa adds a note, showing some mistakes into which the writer has fallen. Gaffarel, Paul. Etudes sur les rapports de I'Amerique et de I'Ancien Continent avant Christoph Colomb. Paris, 1869. pp. 225- 260. BP. Speaks of tlie maritime activity of the Northmen: gives at considerable length the account of discoveries of the Northmen in the Atlantic before 100 1; discusses the proliability that the Toltecs discovered America before this time, but does not believe it; gives the voyages of the Northmen in the 11th century; sliows that Vinland was knosvn in Europe: treats of the commerce of PRE-COLUMmAN IMSOOVERIES OP AMERICA. 137 century, is ,i,l(Io(i. ' "PPctiml n) Itie bi'^iiiiihig of iha nth 187?' piT'&t" £: '^""^^'''"- ^''•^ '^^-•""-» -n Maine. Albany, A criticism on tlie work of Dr. Kohl. Favorable. ot^:^t:rS-^^-,^;:^!:^:^^j^:^^ the geographers conS[;^S;l!{5^^i;i'^^^.S,J-.S;[|;S^; With nunarks and comments. ^^^BaWwin,J:Deni.son. Ancient Amoriea. X.Y., 1872. pp. 279- part^^f^N.^^ 'SZl' "'' '^"^^'^"'•^ "^ ^''■""""' -inch he considers to be a Le^^^o^SXSl ^""'^"' ^^^^•' ^^'2- 20:456-450. /^ inclK I^S^L^' ^n^^lnlele w?" '"■";">■ «'-"' -'"e" t'- writer is Boston, 1873. no. ISlV, pj,. toS. ""' reprinted in '• Littell-s livinj/age.' National quarterly review. X.Y.. Deo.. 1873. 28:75-f): ff "nq3^::tionabW tnL"t'S^"Ku".Km^v'T ^1^^^!' ""''" ^''^ ^^-"f'"'- -n^idera the inscription^n tlVe DijVi^^m'ffik. ''"'' ""•''^'''•' '" "'*■'"' the Old Mill and h> I 138 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Contents. —liowtc dc rAmc'rique; Lcs enfants d'Erik le Rouge; Thorflnn Kiirlsofno ot Gudridu; Excursions mi'ridionalcs; Excursions boreales; Frt'di- cations cn'tit'iincB on Anu'ri(iuc; Nouvnilc (li'couvertc dc rAuii-rique a la llu du 14' sic'cle; Decadeiict' ct mine di's colonies iiorniaiids de I'Anierique; Freuves archuologitjucs dn st'jourdcs Norniaiids en Ainc'riqui'. Also Ima ii niup of the discoveries of the Northmen in America, a map of the Zeni, and an engraving of the inscription on the Dighton Rock. Puts full credit in the account of the discovery, and assigns to the North- men the tower at Newport and the inscriptions on the Dighton Hock. The identitication of places is the same as that given in the '"Antiquitates Ameri- canie." His foot-notes and references are very full. North American review. Boston, 1874. 119: 166-182. //. Gravier's Decouverte tie rAinericiue, by II: Cabot Lodge. A criticism on Gravier's work; and gives the account of the discovery of Viuland. It also discusses the question of the Dighton Uock and the tower at Ncnvport, and adds, "Gravier's book is almost valueless, beyond calling atten- tion to an interesting field of investigation." Goodrich, Aaron. A history of the character and achievements of the so-called Christoplier Coliimbiis. N.Y., 18T4. pp. 69-87. BP. Gives the account of the Northmen. The author believes it, and identifies the places as in the "Antiquitates Americana'. "" Royal Historical Society. Transactions. London, 1874. n.s., 3:75-97. //. Gives the account of the Northmen, and the authorities npon which it rests are stated. Kingsley, Rev. C: Lectures delivered in America in 1874. Phila., 1875. pp. 65-97. //. This is a popular account of the discovery, which the writer regards as history. Anderson, R. B. America not discovered by Columbus. Chi- cago, 1874. //. Contents.— The Norsemen, and other peoples, interested in the discovery of America; Norse literature has been neglected by the learned men of the great nations; Anticiuity of America; Phenician, Greek, Irish, and Welsh claims; Who were the Norsemen? (Jroenland; The sliips of the Norsemen; Tlie Sagas and documents are genuine; Bjanie Herjulfson,986; Leif Erikson, loot); Tliorflnn Karlsefne and Gudrid, 1007; T\w discovery of America by ('(ilumbus; Other expeditious by the Norsemen; Conclusion; The Scandina- vian languages. A small book containing much information not to be conveniently found elsewhere. It gives fully the account of the discovery of Vinland. The author puts great contidence in the account, as well as in the tower at Newport, the I)ighton Rock, and the skeleton in armor. lie also believes that {'.)luinbus knew of the discovery of America by the Northmen, and concludes by giving quotations from several eminent scholars in regard to the Scandinavian lan- guages. Abbolt, J: S. 13-21. BP. C. The history of Maine. Boston, 1875. pp. PRE-COHIMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMEKICA. 139 Gives the nccount of the Northmen, which the luitluir taltes from the "Anti(iiiitiitc's Aiiicrieanac."' lie Hi^'rcfH with it in every pnrticnliir, and Mays of tlie Uld Mill. •' It is not nnreasonahle to snppose that the venerable tower remains a nieniorial of the Northincn"s visit." Drake, S: Adams, Nooks and coi-ncrs of the Now England coast. N.Y., 1875. p. ;56i). //. The connection of tlie Northmen witli the Old Mill at Newport is taken up- "The discovery of any portion of the coast of New En;^hinil l)y Northmen belongs to the realms of conjecture."' Galaxy. N.Y., 187.). 20: 514-518. H. Claims to the dis- covofy of America, by J: T. Siiort. Gives brielly the account of the Northmen, which he considers prol)ahle; but he does not believe in the JJighton Hoclc and the Old Mill. Potter's American monthly. I'liila., 1875. v. 5; no. 48. ))]). 000-907. H. Tile visits of Europeans to America in the 10th and 11th centuries, by M. M. I'ilon. Gives the account of the Northmen, which he believes. Oarlyle, T: Tlie early kuigs of Norway. N.Y., 1875. pp. SC- SI. H. Mentions that it is believed that Erilc the Red discovered America in 985. The author then states tlie parts wliicli he is thought to have visited. Higginson, T: WenlAortii. Young foll-iibject. Kneeland, S: 217-231. H. An Ainericaii in Iceland. Boston, 1876. pp. Gives, in brief, the account of tlic discovery of Vinlnnd, and discusses the probubility of it. Tiie autlior thiiik> it is true, and that Vinland was on the coast of New England. A book of American explorers. Higginson, T: Wentworth. Boston, 1877. p{). l-lo. //. Gives a popular account of the Northmen discovery, taken from the "Massachusetts quarterly review," 184!>. Slafter, Edmund Parwell. Voj'a^es of the Northmen to Am- erica. Boston, 1877. (Prince Society.) //. Contenfs.~M&p of Vinland; Preface; Introduction: General Map of Nortiicrn Europe and America; The Saga of Erik the lied; Extracts from the Heimsliiingla of Snorro Sturlesou; The Saga of Thorlinn Karlsefne; (ieo- graphical notices; Minor narrativtis; Prof. Itafn's Synopsis of historical evi- aence; Opinion of Prof, llafn as to identity of i)la"ccs; Dial of the ancient northmen, bv Prof. Magnusen; Names given to the parts of the day by the Nortlimen; bibliographical, etc. The object was to collect in a suitable form for "American readers the evidence contained in the "Antiquitates Americana', '"jand Beamish's work. Farnum, Alexander. Visits of the Northmen to Rhode Island. Providence, 1877. (Rliode Island hist, tracts, no. 3.) H. Gives brieily the 'account of the {Northmen, in which the writer fully believes, lie, however, considers the Old Mill and the Dighton Rock as hav- ing nothing to do with the Northmen. Foster, J: Wells. Pre-hi.storic races of the United States. Chicago, 1878. pp. 399-400. //. Unfavorable. ( Siuding, Paul Kristian. The Scandinavian races. (A new edition, with a few slight changes, and a little additional matter, of the author's "History of Scandinavia.") N. Y.. 1878. pp. 70- 84. //. Gives fully the account of the discovery of Vinland, and mentions the parts of America which the Northmen are thought to have visited. "The claim that the Nortlimen went the very tirst discoverers of America seems to be placed on good foundation." Short, J: T. The North Americans ol antiquity, N. Y., 1879. pp. 152-154. H. A criticism in favor of the claim. Metcalfe, F. The Englishman and the Scandinavian. Lpii- don. 1880. pp. 25, 193, 297, note. H. Favorable. PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Ul III. DISCO VKllV BY THE ARABS. Edrisi. Nos het al-inoschtiio ft ikktino iil-afac. Written in 1158. [A French translation, by P. A. Jaubert, under the titU- of "Geographie cFEdrisi," Paris, 188(>-40, by P. A. Jaubert. 1:200. 201; 2:2(J-29. H.] On pp. 200-:i01 lie liiiits of the voynj^rc of tlic Miifjliroiirinf, and on |)p. 20-27 he gives, without stutiiij; his uutliority, tlie story of oiglit rehitives who sailed to the west in order to nnd out tiie limits of tlie ocean. Instituf de France. Acddi'mio liotpde deft InHcriptionx et BelleH-Lettres. DP. Menioires de litterature. Paris, 17U1. 28: 524-526. Ileclierches sur Ics navigations des Chinois du cote dc I'Amerique, par M. de Guignes. Gives the story of the Arabs, and states it as a fact that they went to the Canaries, but does not give his authorities. Institut de France. AccuUmie Hoi/tde deft Inscvipt ionti et Belles-Lettres. Notices et extraits des nianu.scrits de la Hiblio- themie du Roi. Paris, 1789. 2:24,27. //. Perles des nierveilles, par M. de Guignes. Treats of a Ms. in the library of the king by Ebn-al-ouardi, on physical geography, called Mocaddeniat-al-ouardlat. De Guignes gives the account of the Arabs, which he says he finds in the manuscript, and says that lie thinks they came to America. Munoz, .T: Baptista. Historia del Nuevo Mundo. ^ladrid. 1793. [An English translation, London, 1797. p. 119, note. //.] Gives the story of the Arabs, but says nothing about America. Refers to "Notices et extraits." Murray, Hugh, in North America. Historical account of discoveries and travels London, 1829. 1:11-12. H. Speaks of the account of the Arabs, but says it has been shown clearly that the lands to which they went were the Azores. Oooley, W: Desborough. History of maritime and inland discovery. Lardner's cabinet cyclopaetiia. London, 1830. 1 : 172- 173. H. Gives the story of the Arabs, and adds that they seem not to have sailed beyond the Canary islands. This book was reprinted in the " Edinburgh cab- inet library." Humboldt, F: H: Alexander v;y of the UnittMl States. (In Smith- sonian Institution. Contributions to knowledge. Wash., 1850. vol 8, art. 1, p. 9. JI.) Gives the account of the Arabs, witii tlie names of its principal support- ers. Peschel, Oscar Ferdinand, (foscliiclilo des zeitalters der ent- deckungen. Stuttg. u. Augsb.. 1858. i>p. 39-41. JI. Story mentioned, l)ut nothiny said of America, and the Story itself doubted. Mgjor, R: H: Life of Prince Ilciny of Portugal. London, 1868. pp. 147-149. JJ. Gives the account of the Arabs, and adds the observations of D'Avezac on the subject, with whicli lie is inclined to agree, i.e., that they went to Madeira. GafFarel, Paid. Etudes sur les rapports de rAme'riquo et de I'Ancien Continent avant Cln'istoj)he Colond). Paris, 1809. pp. 208-311. JiJ^. Gives tlie account of tlic Arabs, of which he says, "The Arabs advanced very far into tlie Athintie, but of their journey, or "of their stay in America, we "have no proof." Bryant, W: Cullen, and Gay, Sidney Howard. Popular his- tory of tiie United States. N. Y.. 1870. " 1:04-00. JJ. Gay is the real author of this work; he gives the account of the Arabs, and refers to IluniliohU and Alajor. He thinks 'Jiat they could not possibly, have gone west of the Azores. IV. DISCOVERY BY THE WELSH. Caradoc de Lann-Oarvan. Rritannorum suecessiones. Writ- ten about 1150. [An English translation, under the title of "ThQ PKE-COLUMIJIAN DISCOVKUIES OF AMERICA. 143 history of Wales," by Dr. Powell, nugmciitcd bv W. Wynne. London, 1774. t:l»5-H)7. lil\ Hero it is sftiri tiiiit Miulnwc, son of Owon (twyiicdli, left Wnlcw in 1170, niul Hiiili'd wcstwiird; "imd, Icnviiifj Ireland to \\w nortii, lie cainc at lcc was no history can show." Herbert, Sir T: A relation of some yearcs' travels into Africa and Asia the Great. London. ICll. pp. 394-397. //. Favorable. Ho believes Madoc probably landed at Newfoundland. Pox, Capt. Luke. North-west Fox. London, 1635. p. 13. CB. The story of Madoc is given, as found in Hakluyt, the opinion being expressed that he came to some part of the West Indies. Howell, James. Epistoh-e IIo-Elianjr, familiar letters. Lon- don, 1645-55. [5th ed. London. I(i78. pp. 354-355. //.] Says of tho Madoc claim, "This, if well proved, might well entitle ouf ^rown'to America, if flrst discovery may claim a right to any country." • 4 144 PRE-COLUMHIAN IJISCOVEKIKH OF AMERICA. Laet, .1: do. Notue ml (liMscrtjitioiiciii lIu;,'oiii.s (irotii do ori- goiic fjojitiimi Aiiioru'iiiijinim. I'liris, 1(!4;{. [)\). 13T-1.")1. Jf. 'I'lic ^^t<)ry i)f Miuldc is j,'ivcii, witli riforciicc to Dr. I'owcll and llnkliiyt. Coiiii)uri8onM of wohIm in Wt-lsii uiul Huron arc given. Kavoraljic Hornius, (i: I)e origiiiibus Amoricanis. Hagiio Coiniti.'^, 1052. I)|.. l;J, i;J4-137. //. Claim of Madoc discuKsed, and lonsidrn-d pr()l)abl(', tliougli not certain. Montanus, Afiioldus. Do niouwe en oiibekcndc wecrcld. Amst., 1(571. pp. 35-;}G. //. Favorable. Oampanius, T:, of Holm. Kort l)oskrifiiiii<,' otii Provincion Nyo Sworigc uli Amorioa. Stockliolin, 1702. [An English trans- lation, under tho tiile of "Do.scnption of tlio Province of Now Sweden," by P:S. du Ponceau. Phila.. 1834. pp. 28-31. H.] Claim of Madoc mentioned, but no opinion expressed. Torfaeus, Thorinodus. Ilistoriu Vinlandijo antiqiuc. Ilavniae, 1705. Preface. //. Madoc's claim is spoken of as -'by no means absurd." Stiiven, J: F: De vero Novi Orbis inventoi'c dissortatio his- torico-critica. Francof, a. M., 1714. pp. 31-35. //. Story believed, but thought not to refer to America. Campbell, .1: Lives of the admirals and other eminent British seamen. London, 1742. [3d ed. London, 1701. 1:251-252. //.] Thoufjh the author doubts whether Madoc came to America, lie says, "There are authentick records, in tlic British tongue, as to this expedition of Madock's, whereever he went, prior to the discovery of America oy Colum- bus." Carte, T: History of England. Loi.don, 1747. 1:638. //. Carte says that Madoc came " to a land unknown, probably the coast of Florida, or some more northern part of America." Lyttleton, G: History of tlie life of King Henry the Second. London, 17G7. 4:;371-374. II. Unfavorable. - Beatty, C: Journal of a two months' tour in America. Lon- don, 1768. pp. 24-28. //. Here is given some information, derived from a man named Sutton, and another named Levi Hicks, relative to the Welsh origin of the Indians of Pennsylvania. rUE-COLUMIlIAN DISCOVERIES op AMEKIOA. 145 Burnet, .Tiuncs [Lord ISronhnddol. Of flio (.ritjin and nrntrross of iHiigufiL-c!. Ediii., 1773. [3d I'd. Ediu., 1774. pp. .WJ-51K)", gii'ig note. H.] Favorable Owen, N. British remains. London. 1777. pp. 103-120. //. ^i.i*^i' »" " *i"''-^' "/,'"■• '"'"/'''' "'^<'f"""if of »•> ancioiit (lisiovciv of America," with letterH from Morgan Joiush and Cliurics Lloyd in conllrmatiou tlariof." ^QQ^^^f **°°' ^^' Il'^tory of Amorica. Lojidon, 1777. 1:430- 4o8. //. Unfavorable. FUson, J: Discovery, .sottlcinont, nud present state of Ken- tucKy. Wash., 1784. i)p. 95-98. JI. Favorable. Jones, E : Musical and poetical rclicks of the Welsli bards Lonilon, 1784. 1: 37. //. "The use of our poetry in preserving the memoiv of events, and tlic aid V"}^ '*'!!'./" '''/f-^V, IH l>roved by anoli.er example, vi/., of tl e eele Irate Madog ab Owen awynedil, and ills discovery of Ameriea, alx.ut, ti/c j4ir 1170." o„?'"*7/"»*°"' W= History of Wales. London, 1780. pp.334 Favorable. Pennant, T. lutrodiiclion lo the Arctic zooloffv. London 1787. [2d ed. London, 1792. pp. 203-204. //.J "^ ' Unfavorable. Gentleman's magazine. London, 1789. 59: 1007-1008. H. M. F. gives a letlcr clMiminy; the discovery l)y Madoc. He savs that the letter was given liiin by a lady, but lie knows not who wrote it. Gentleman's magazine. London, 1791. vol. 01. //. On pp. 329, 39()-7, .W-tt, and r!».5-(S, W: Owen <7ives many proofs of the discovery of Ameriea by the VVeisb. On pp. 012-01 1, K : Will anis gives add! tional information. On p. (i93, \.. K. j.roposes that the (Jovernmen. send n onThe diseussimr "'" ' ^'■""' "^ """ ^^'''''•' '^^'"'"'- "" '*• «"» L. carries Williams, .7 : An inquiry into the truth of the tradition con- cerning the discovery of America by Prince Madog al) Owen Gwynedd. London, 1791. ^ Favorable. Williams, J : Farther observations on the discovery of Amer- ica by the Europeans. London, 1792. Favorable. :|l|l 146 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Carey's American museum. Phila., 1792. 11: 153, 209, tic. II. An extract from J : Williams' work. Belknap, Jeremy. American biography. Boston, 1794. 1 : 58-G6. H. The author giveH uverythiiig that ho could fliul on the subject of Madoc. He thinks it not improbable that the storj \van invented by Hakluyt to detract from Columbus' fame. Burder, G: The Welsh Indiana. Lomloii, 1797. H. Here is given tne whole story, with copious references, and many proofs not to be found elsewhere. The criticism is entirely favorable. Owen, W: The Cambrian biography. London, 1803. p. 233. BM. "I have collected a multitude of evidences, in conjunction with Edward Williams, the bard, to prove that Madog nnist have reached the American continent." Philadelphia medical and physical journal. Pliila., 1805. vol. 1, pi. 2. i)p. 79-9U. BF. A letter by Harry Toulmin, rej)ublished from the ''Kentucky Pallad- ium," telling of some Welsh-Indians in America. To this is addedap imfa- vorable discussion by B: Smith Barton. Southey, Robert. Madoc. Edin., 1805. H. The poem is based upon the Welsh claim, which Southey seems to believe. Lewis, Merivvetlier. The travels of Capts. Lewis and Clarke. London. 1809. p. 2T5. H. The claims set forth, but no opinion expressed. Stoddard, Amos. Sketches, historical and descriptive, of Louisiana. Phila., 1812. pp. 405-488. II. A favorable discussion of the subject. Finkerton, J : A general collection of the best and most inter- esting voyages and travels in all parts of the world. London, 1812. 12: 157;— 1814. 17 : xxiv. //. In 18: 157: "That the country TMadoc] went to was really America, is more, I think, than can be thoroughly proved; but that this tah; was invented after the discovery of that country, on purpose to set up a i)rior title, is most certainly false." In 17: xxiv, the 'VV'elsn claim is spoken of as "a ridiculous Welsh tiUe." Brackenridge, IL M. 160-170. H. Views of Louisiana. Bait., 1817. pp. Speaks of Welsh remains in the valley of tlic Mississipi)!, but considcre it Impossible that any such exist. cov PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 147 Biographie universelle. Mmloe. Paris, 1830. 20:95-96. //. Gives Madoc'8 claim, but expresses no opinion. Buhj^ir' "" "'^'""''''^ discussion, and expresses his own doubt on the • ^^^7^ Hiigh. Historical account of discoveries and tmvpls in North America. London, 1839. 1 : 13-13 ^ ^^^^^^^ Murray believes Madoc went to Spain. Favorable. Cooley, W : Dosborough. History of maritime and iidand dis- ery. (Lardncr's cabinet cyclopoedia.) London, 1830. 1 . 215 // libraol' ''"'■""'''• ""'''' •^""'^ ^*« '•«P""ted in the "Edinburgh cabinet Dupaix, Gnillaume. Antiqiiitcs mexicuines. Paris, 1834 BA unfa;;;abl!:^.irby'iV;"^Slie wiuiLn' ^'''"'''" ^ ^''''"^ '" '• '''~^^ i« «" Humboldt, F: H: Alexander von. Examcn rritir.no ,ln I'l,;. Unfavorable Plnfaf?8m:'38h'"a"'' ^™"'- The ' Amc-icn nation,. Favorable. North American review. Boston, July, 1838. 47:179. R. Claim mentioned, but no opinion expref,sed. Gentleman's magazine. London, 1340. 10 : 103-105. //. A favorable article by Theophilus Evans. . 9*'^^"» p: Letters and notes on (he manners enstomc: nnri 2 : Al^ A?' H: "^^""'^ ^''"^"^^^^ ^"^•-^^^- ^y-^Mtl.: 20g1 atth?Briizr''''^'^""''''^V^'«"^'''"^ '"^^ ^'»'«^ed the Mississippi river 148 rKE-COLUMlJIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. Colombo, Cristoforo. Select letters; ed. by R: II: Major. (Hakluyt Society.) London, 1847. pp. xxiii-xxv. H. Madoc's claim considered improbable, but by no means impossible. Robinson, Conway. Account of discoveries in the West until 1519, and of vovages to and alon^jj the Atlantic coast of North America, from 1520 to 1573. Richmond, 1848. pp. 10-11. H. The claim mentioned, but no opinion expressed. Alexander, Sir James E: 90. BA. Favorable. L'Acadie. London, 1849. 1 : 89- Cambrian Archaeological Association. Archo^ologia Cam- brensis. London, 1849. 4:05. BM. The nrticio by II. and M., giving two commiuiicntions in regard to the Welsh claim, wliich appeared in tlie "London Times" in 1846. Warburton, G: The conquest of Canada. N. Y., 1850. 1: 35-30. H. Unfavorable. Haven, S : P : Archaeology of the United States, {fii Smith- sonian Institution. Contributions to knowledge. Wash., 1850. V. 8, art. 1. pp. 10, 20, 31, 35. H.) The account is given, but no opinion expressed. ' Palfrey, J : Gorham. History of New England. Boston, 1858. 1 :59. H. The author says that the story is not without important corroboration, but that if Welshmen settled in America, it was in Florida or west of the Missis- sippi. Brasseur de Bourbourg, C: Eticnnc, Vabhe. Popul Vuh. Paris, 1801. p. Ixi. H. Unfavorable. Nouvelle biographic generale. jMadoc. Paris, 1803. 32: 634-035. H. Gives the account of Madoc, and adds, " If there is any truth in the story, Modoc pr()l)ably landed to tlie North of Virginia." Zeitschrift fiir ullgemeine Erdkunde. Berlin, April, 1864. BM. Ostasien und Westamerica, von K: P. Neumann. In favor of the populating of America from Asia. Contains the claim of Hoei Shin, which the writer believes. American bibliopolist. N. Y., Feb.. 1869. pp. 47-50. //. An excellent bibliography of the Madoc claim. PM-COLUM«UN DI8COVEEIES OP AMERICA. U9 Favorable. of the discovery of he iiaVf VL. ^ 'V v'K^^'P' ''«^- 1- History Kohl. pp. 59-60. //I "'*^ ^""'"^^ "^ ^^«^"tl^ America, by J. G. Claim of Madoc mentioned, bnt no view expressed. 285^287^"^'^'. '^•■^'''''''"' A'^^'<^"t America. N. Y., 1872 pp. The author " feels slveptical." Favorable. Favorjible. Of i?nJS-bfi:^f:S-t ''='''• ''• ^'--""^ to the discovery Uifravorable. Considers the Madoc claim donbtful. The author seems to be doubtful. p. m^')//'^- ^^''^^^•"•t'^A.nericans of antiquity. N.Y.,1879. "The chronicle on which the daiu, is based is wanting in authority." 150 ^RE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. V. DISCOVERY BY THE VENETIANS. Zeno, Nicolo and Antor. io. De i commcntarii del viaggio in Persia di M. Catariiio Zeno.l K. e delle guerre fatte nelF imperio Persiano, dal tempo di Ussuncassano in qua. Libri due. E dello scoprimento dell' isole Frislanda, Eshinda. Engrovelauda, Estoli- landa, e Icaria, fatto sotto il Polo Artieo da due i'ratelli Zeni, jNI. Nicolo il K. e M. Antonio. Libro uno. Con un disegno jnartico lare di tutte le dette parte di traniontana da lor scoperte. Venetia, 1558. pp. 45-58. BM. This book consists of letters collected by Nicolo Zeno, who says they were the correspondence between his ancestors, Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, between the years 1380 and 1404. He «ays the letters, with a niai), hud re- mained in possession of the family until he saw tiieir value and had them published. In these letters is a very circumstantial accoiuit of the lands mentioned in the title. The publisher was Francesco Mai-colini. The copy in the British Museum is without the map. Ramusio, Giani Battista. Dolle navigationi e viaggi. Vene- zia, 1550-59. [An edition, Venezia, 1583. i^p. 230-333: H.] The story, taken from Marcoliui's book, is given in full. Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum orbis terrarum. Anvers, 1575. fol. 60. H. The whole account is given in Latin, with the map. Hakluyt, R: Principall navigations, voiages. and discoveries of the English nation. London, 1589. [An edition, London, 1810. 3:157-106. H.] Hakluyt gives perfect credence to the Zeni voyage, and inserts in full a translation of the work of Marcolini. Mercator, Gerard. Atlas, sive geographical meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricata figura. Duisbourg, 1595. [An etfition, under the title of "Ilistoria Mundi," London, 1635. pp. 25, 30-31, 34-35. H.] Speaks of Estotiland as a part of America, and tells what Zeno says about Greenland and Iceland, though he speaks as if the Zeni story was not very well authenticated. He does not seem to have known tiiat the Zeni discovered, or even arrived at, Estotiland. Wytfliet, Cornelius. Descriptionis Ptolemaica^ augnientum. Lovanii, 1597. p. 188. H. Mention is here made of the Zeni voyage; and on the map of America which Wytrtiet gives, Labrador is called Estotiland. Thus Wytlliet is the first to connect the Zeni's discoveries with any part of America. Botero, Giovanni. Relaciones universales del mundo. Valla- dolid, 1603. pp. 183 reverse-184. If. PRE-COLUMHIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMEKICA. 151 DroS^^,$lin5:f;;l;;^;;^j;'^S«J. ^^^ -'« of ^n.UM, and also the isle Of Gll^^S?"^*'^' P'li'flms, his pilgrimuge. Loudon, 1025. 3:610- ica KoJneit^-Mf ''''^ '" *"' '"'''°' »'"* "° ™«"«on is made of Amer- pp. TSs'-tS!'' ^p.^"'""" Danicarum historia. Amstelodami, 1681. C7Z?^°''' ^"■^^" ^"''''- ^'o^-th-^vest Pox. London, 1635. pp. 5-12. is giv;^\S;n*^l1akl?S/lffl^^^^ confuting. tIk- Zeni story portions of Ainerica "^ *■ ^«n»ifl'^'-« the lands discovered to be AinfA^lua ^Vfn'o,?" "r'^\ne ffPntium An.orioanarum dissertatio. de"Sln is irotlnf.^ '■'*''' •'"• ^'^'}'' ^^""""«' " t'ommentatio 89. i'S] '^"'''"'" ''^'"''^''- ^'it<^l'<^i"g«(>, 1714. p. tl.eZ^^,^fSfscfn?rtl"San!,'Ur;7h?autho^^;r''"^"/°^ ""-^ ^^^^ <'^"^ they claimed al.o the diSry of Estotilan J '' ""' ''"" '" ""^ *^ '^"""'" ♦'^"' in Jf°P;?*";'<^'l'^"^^i»«Bartholonmo,is. Orbi.s maritimi sive rorum p 593. "ij^l*^""''"^ gestaruni gcneralis l.istoria. Divione, Tm. Favorable. o-pnSnm''^*.'''^" • ■^'*^*^'' ^'^ '^issertationeni Ilugonis Gi-otii de oriffinc We here read, " The Zeni story is deserving of suspicion." Pfl,?!* i^M*^®r J® ^^Tf.*"' r^''"firi?ois Jo. La geogranhie du prince Pans, 1651. [In hts (Envvo^. 3« ed. ParisT 16'62. p 819 Tl Favorable. ' "•' pp. ?55"l56: ^11 ^^ ^"S"^^^"« Araericanis. Hagae Comitis, 1652. the s;!;;:^S'Tm;;ssi ^^,^v!^s^^?^x'l^:''' 't^^^^'^ "-^ qiiaintod with the matter." consiatred true by those who are unac- Homius, G: Ulyssea. Lugduni, 1671. p. 335. BJl eithSSnd'or^c^ltra^.^'' ''^''" "^ ""'''^'''^ considering Estotiland to be 152 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OP AMERICA. Montanus, Arnoldus. De nieuwe en onbekende wecrekl. Arast., 1671. p. 29. //. Favorable. Riccioli, J : Bnptista. Geograpliiac et hvdrographiae reformatac. Venetiis, 1672. p. 8!). BM. Says that in 1381 the Zeni sailed to Labrador, to which some Frisland fish- ermen had already penetrated about 1340, and that Labrador is divided from Estotiland by the river Nivoeus, usually called Rio Nevudo. Beemann, J: C. Historia orbis terraruin geographicn et civilis. Francof. ad Odcrani., 1073. [3» od. 1685. pp. 152-153. B3I.] Speaks of Frisland as jirobably a small island of >«orth America. Says tluit not much is known about it, but that Ortelius tells us it was discovered by Niiolo Zeno. Historia Vinlaiidia> antiquse. Ilavniae, Torfaeus, Thonnodus. 1705. Prd'aco. Jl. "The stories which arc told of the Zeni may bo true.'' Also. "I do not quarrel about the name, su.ce Sanson d" Abbeville and the recent geograi)hers rec()j;nize Tcrtniu Xovani Ij.iboratoris and Estotilandiam as synonymous; yet 1 suspect that this is not the same land as the Zeni describe." Stuven, J : F : D- vero Novi Orbis invcntore dissertatio historieo- eritica. Francof. a. M., 1714. pp. 35-36. //. Unfavorable. Fully recognizes that the Zeni story was a claim to the dis- covery of America. Foscarini, M; 406-408. JL Delia letteDitu^a veneziana. Padova, 1752. 1 : The voyage of the Zeni is given as an authentic piece of history, with ref- erences to Marcolini's book; but no connection with America is suggested. Tiraboschi, Girolaino. Storia della letteratura italiana. Mo- dena, 1773-87. [2d ed., Modena, 1789. 5:132-135. //.] Gives the Zeni story, of which Tiraboschi says, "The judgment of Ch. Foscarini alone, who has not tin; least doubt of the sincerity of tlie story, is sufficient to make me believe It." Forster, .T: Itoinholdt. Gosphichte der entdecktingcn und .sfhitfalirten iin Nordoii. Frankfurt, 1784. [An English transla- tion, under the title of " IlistoiT of voyages jind discoveries in the North." I.ondon, 1786. pp. 178-209." If.] Favorable. Considers Estland to be Shetland; Engroneland, Greenland; Estotiland, Newfoundland; and Drogio, Florida. Institut de France. Accuh'mie dcs Sciences. Histoire pom* 1784. Paris, 1787. pp. 430-453. Memoire sur File de Frisland, par M. Biiaehe. fl. PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMERICA. 153 Gives the Zeiii map, with a loiijj (liscii(stal)lisli('ii fact, tliat Jolm Vaz Costa fortrrrnl disrov- orcd NcwfoiiiKllaiul In HVA or IKM. lie ri'fiTs to Antonio Cordciro, " llistoria insiilann tlas ijli.is ii I'ortiiual HU;;('ytas no Occaiio OiH'iilcntal,'' l,iKl)i)n, 1717, lie (loi'H not ni"ntion tlic pu^c, liowcvcr: and no one elHc lias i>vi'r iicen able to tind in tluil l)t ".«'dl.c„very „, Amor. Leip- ^'??^'^:^SSS"'^^'• I'-^''^'-i-he GeschicLte zig, 1759. 1:133-134; ;?P. Claim mentioned, but (Jebauer i« doubtful. ch JrpTcS„n."''f,sl-;s„;ri7Sf ° S""""' ""^ "»-" ^*. ^^.Ro^rt,on,W: History „, America. London, 1777. I:„„te 162 PRE-COLUMBIAN DlSCOVElilES OF AMEKICA. Murr, Christopli Gottlieb von. DiplonmtifSflK' Gescliiohto, dos Ritlers Bchaim. Niirnljcrg;. 1778. [A Krciicli translation in C. Amoretti's translation of I'igafctta's " Pri'inier voyage autour du Monde," l)y II. J. Jansen. ' Paris. 1801. //. Also an Knglisii translation in .1 : Pinki'rton's ''General collection of the best and most interestini^ vovages and travels in all parts of the world." London, 1812. ^ 11 : ■39'2-420. 7/.] Hchaim's claim in iliscusscd, and a poriioii of lii> cliari is Kiveii. "The history and tlic trlobc of Bi'liuini aljsoliiti'ly dcxtroy all tlioso i)retcn!»ions, and prove that ho had no kuo\vU'di,'c of America. '" American Philosophical Society. Transactions. Phihi., 1786. 2 : 2G;3-384. //. A letter from Mr. Otto to Dr. Franklin, in which it is claimed that Martin Rehaim lirst discovered America. Amont; otlier ijroofs the writer cities a ter- restrial <;;lol)e made l)y Mi'liaini, now in the arcliives of llie lihrary at Niirem- hcrj^, on which we tlnd the land that he discovered in siicli a position tliat it must bu the present coasts of Hrazil and the environs of the Straits of Magel- lan, says Mr. (Jtto. Belknap, Jeremy. A discourse intended to commemorate the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Boston, 1792. pp. 85-99. n. Unfavorable. This article was rejjrinted in Jercniv BelknapV "Amcican biography."' -Boston, irsM. 1 : 1-,'H-141. //. Cladera^ Don Cristobal. Investigaciones historieas sobre los principiiles desciibriinientos de los Kspanoles. 31{idrid, 1794. //. An exhaustive work on the claim of Behaim, attem|)ting to overthrow it entirely. It contains a map of a ])ortion of Beluiinr.s globe. A translation into Spanish of Alurr's article on Behaim is also given. Amoretti, C: Preface to a French translation of Pigafetta's "Premier voytige aiitoiu' dii Monde." Paris. 1801. pp. 21-28. //. The claim of Beiiaim is considered, and the writer thinks that, though Belinim lirst discovered America, lie did not know it until after ho had com- pared Itis own discoveries witli tliose of CoUimhns. North American review. Boston, 1822. 14:37-38. //. J. G. Cogswell sjM'aks of the assertion that Behaim discovered America before Columbus as " a trilling error." Tates, J: V. N., (nid Moulton, Josepli White. History of the State of New York. X. V.. 1824. p. 104. 11. Claim mentioned, but no view expressed. Irving, Washington. History of the life and voyages of Chris- topher Cohimbns. London. 1828.' pp. 208-212. //. The question of Behaim is taken up at considerable length, and Irving cxijlains the claim as "founded on tlie misinterpretation of a passage inter- polated in the chronicle of Ilurtmann Schedel."' PRE-COLUMBIAX DISCOVEKIES OF AMERICA. 163 l'^f5T''';/;''''o''T- >^"^''J'''^^^"^^'-^'^'«'"'>f'''. Paris 1834 1- F.4r'v*5?';,o: 9,"?'^™"'' ""' "" "1"'""" »P'-«»».l. by I.T.„5„,. C: Humboldt, V -. H- AIcvhihI.m- ww. v.. A long discuswion. Uiifiivorable. Colombo, Crititoforo. Selec*; Iptfprs;- r.,i i.., t> tj ht ■ (Hakluyt Society.) London. 1&. j^pl^xxl-xx^i/"/^^ ^^'^"'- Mr. ]\Injor docs not favor the claim. 8: W?iS,»r'"«P. "'■■"""■"'"'''■ ''" ""■■"•" ««-■ n.'"-.. 1852. Favorable. Haven, S : F. ArchiPologv of the Unitod States / h> Rm,-f i. Claim mentioned, but no view expressed. Inclined to bo unfavorable. 5o-*J^P^''^"T '"°"***?y magazine. X. Y.. 1871. 43 • 425-485 ReV: M: M^,/" -— ^^t-n of tlK> clainus of CV,i;mbus,ty ^vhiS':orr'esJ,UV'.PSfeS^^fe thinks that he plaeed on it land had nes er himself discoSi\'^^ ^<"PPos,ng ,t to exist there, thongh he 164 PRE-COLUMIIIAN DISCOVERIES OF AMKKIUA. Gives an EngliHh translation of the pnseagf In Schedcrs work, on which 18 baaed Behaim's claim. States that "the 'Chronicle,' in the handwriUnc of Schedel, is jjreserved at Nnremberjj;; but the passage contained in the extract above given is added in a ditfcrcnt hand." Bartlett therefore con- siders the claim iinfounaed. IX. DISCOVERY BY COUSIN OF DIEPPE. Memoires clironologiqucs pour sorvir a I'liistoire dc Dieppe, et k celle (Ic hi luivigation t'rauyaise. Paris, 1785. 1 : 91-98. B3L Says that Consin left Dieppe at the beginning of 1488, and at the end of two months arrived at the mouth of a great river, which he called " Marag- non," and which has been since named the " Fleuve des Amazcmcs." He returned to Dieppe in 1489. Vincent Pincon, one of Cousin's captains, de- serted the people of Dieppe and went to Geneva, wlierc it is ihought he told Columbus of Cousin's discoveries. The author of the "Memoires" does not give his authorities for these facts. Estancelin, L : Recherches sui- les voyages et deeouvertes des navigateurs norinaiids en Afrique, dans les Indes Orientales et en Anierique. Paris, 1832. pp. 332-3G1. BP. Discusses the question whether Cousin discovered America before Co- lumbus, and whether it was from him that Columbus obtained his knowledge The author is scarcely inclined to believe it. Gu^rin, Leon. Les navigateuvs franeais. Paris, 1846. pp. 47-49. BP. /' Claim mentioned, but no opinion expressed. Parkm.i, Francis. Pioneers of France in the New World. Boston, 18G5. pp. 169-170. //. " The story may not be quite void of foundation." Gaffarel, Paul, ^fetudes sur les ra])ports de I'Amerique ct de I'Ancien Continent avant Christophe Columb. Paris, 1869. pp. 814-324. BF. ^^ Favorable. , i Bryant, W: Cullen, and Gay, Sidney Howard. Popular his- tory of the United States. N. Y., 1876. 1 : 139. //. Unfavorable. ^^